The Copley Transformational Project

This project was initially a more modest scheme to place industries on the former site of Standard Wire just off Wakefield Road opposite the HBOS data centre. It is currently a car park where employees at the data centre are being charged £2 per day to park there. The project has now become a key objective in the Upper Calder Valley "Renaissance" scheme and needs a whopping 30m from investors/developers to proceed regeneration on this 35 acre site.

I think the council should think very carefully about what they want this development to be about. This Development really needs to happen but this is not an ideal site for houses, it’s partially on a flood plain and very deep in the Valley so far too dark for human inhabitation (normal humans anyway, by all accounts the site of standard wire is contaminated with corrosive acids so not suitable for housing). This is the best site for the relocation of industries that are currently along Holmes road such as the Dougdales and the Council tip; the tips current location is not satisfactory, it has inadequate access and the tip is too small both of these factors cause accidents and so much road rage it’s tragic.

The new road would help the infrastructure in SB dramatically and ease up traffic on Wharf st. It would also help to save the Bridge that is repeatedly damaged). But until the necessary land is acquired the new access from Holmes Road to Wakefield Road, opposite the HBOS data centre at Copley cannot be built.

This leads me to suggesting that to begin with the development could begin with relocating the industries from Holmes Road to the Standard Wire site, it has already been used for decades as a site for business so the access is great there and this would help to keep vehicles that are too large off this stretch of road.

(Dougdale’s lorries are far too big for the current road and are quite often stuck jack-knifed at the right angle corner. Calder valley skip hire drive like maniacs and are constantly ramming it (I was bore witness to one of these wagons driving straight into the railway bridge at the other end of Holmes Road (I was under the bridge at the time and the crash was so loud I thought the Bridge was far more damaged than it was). Anyway I digress (again) the one way traffic causes tailbacks, the bridge and the road system cannot handle it. If the industries were to be moved, there could even be a restriction on vehicle size and weight over the old bridge between Canal and Holmes Road. This would be great in the short term and make the issue of the new access road less urgent so the focus can be turned back the development of the site in question and the costs can be brought down significantly.

None of this stuff should affect the nature around this area and I’m sure it can be done sensitively if some thought goes into it, making sure that walks and areas such as the allotments are left well alone, keep it all on the brown land I say, there’s plenty of it. There was probably good reason why some land wasn’t built on in the good old days when they could build properly.

Should the Copley Valley Transformational Project they shouldn’t miss the opportunity to use this brown land for what it’s most suitable for, industries/work units etc. and not houses. If the Industries were moved from Holmes road then this provides opportunities to convert Dougdales and some of the other brown land areas into possible sites for shops, houses and other amenities which fits in perfectly with what The renaissance group wants to achieve in creating a new focus for the town away from busy Wharf Street and closer to the River Calder and railway station.