The town park, which will be the largest green space within the town centre, and the first dedicated outdoor area for children to safely play and socialise, is set to create several new draws to attract residents and visitors alike. The approved plans include lots of open green spaces, seating and a substantial, partially enclosed play area, which will benefit from lots of interesting features for children of all ages to engage with and enjoy. The plans also allow for potential water features, which could provide both a relaxing element for those enjoying the park and an interactive feature for the play area. There will also be an opportunity to include more art, with involvement from the local community.
The town park will transition smoothly into the market’s outdoor offering – where food and drink can be enjoyed outside, and demountable stalls will allow for both an outdoor market area and a flexible space to support events. This will then transition into the indoor market, which will also be kitted out for a variety of different kinds of markets and events, whilst retaining the building’s beautiful historic structure and character.
Now accepted, the plans for Dewsbury Market will create a more varied, day-to-night offering in Dewsbury town centre. The council aims to continue and improve the traditional market offering, whilst at the same time creating more areas for eating, drinking, socialising and events, giving people as many reasons as possible to visit Dewsbury.
The area surrounding the connected park and market will also benefit from these designs. Foundry Street in particular will become a lot greener and more pedestrian-friendly, providing a better and more pleasant connection to the neighbouring Dewsbury Arcade – set to reopen next year, around the same time work on the market and park is due to begin. The whole space – which, once completed, will also greatly increase the number of trees in the town centre – will be visible from the ring road, creating a much more inviting impression of Dewsbury town centre.
Ongoing maintenance is also one of the council’s top priorities, with all features being extremely durable as well as easy to clean and maintain, to ensure every aspect of the space can benefit the town centre for many years to come.
Designing out crime, to create a safer town centre by design is also a key consideration across these plans. Full visibility from end to end of the park (including the outdoor market space when demountable stalls are down) won’t just allow for enjoyable views, but also for responsible adults to keep an eye on young children. This will also create a safer, more open and easily overlooked thoroughfare for anyone crossing the town centre, with more footfall from day through to night.
The council worked with the Dewsbury Town Board and architects from the Building Design Partnership (BDP) Ltd. to develop designs for both the market and town park, and to make sure that these designs take into consideration all the public consultation previously undertaken on both elements, and all the feedback given by traders and local people.
Now this planning application has been accepted, the designs will continue to evolve and develop between now and work starting on-site. With planning permission in place, more scoping will be done on certain aspects, and the council will continue to work with architects, developers and current market traders to ensure that the final designs bring the greatest possible benefit at the best possible value.
Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Regeneration, says:
“Once we unveiled our updated plans for Dewsbury Market, the adjoining park was very much the missing piece. These are both aspects of the town we know local people greatly care about, and they have a huge part to play in Dewsbury’s future.
“This approved planning application marries these two key elements within our Dewsbury Blueprint, and shows how different this part of town is going to look within the next few years – not even taking into account the amount of work we’re doing elsewhere in the town centre. It’s an incredibly exciting time for Dewsbury, these plans confirm our commitment to delivering investment to regenerate Dewsbury over the next few years and I can’t wait for us to get started.”
Keith Ramsay, Chair of the Dewsbury Neighbourhood Board, says:
“This is a huge milestone for both Dewsbury Market and the new town park, which we can now say with surety will be combined to completely reshape this part of our beautiful town. My tenure leading the Dewsbury Neighbourhood Board has seen us face tremendous challenges in order to push forward with improvements to the town centre, and it’s taken a lot of time and hard work from so many people – so I’m tremendously excited to reach this milestone and to know that we can now move forward.
“These are plans that will truly see Dewsbury town centre brought back to life, supporting the soon-to-reopen arcade and other town centre businesses, and cementing all we’re doing to future-proof Dewsbury’s heritage as a traditional market town – whilst creating a town centre that can thrive for future generations.”
Now that the plans have been approved, the council will engage with market traders around the plans for the decant over the next two months. Once details are finalised, the council will then share next steps.
