Castleford Regeneration The Big Town Plan: The Footbridge

Date Published:

30/07/2008

The original design the community chose (from a possible 12) was for a floating bridge on a pontoon. But after 18 months of talking, the idea was ditched because of the difficulties it presented in maintaining the weir. But the locals were adamant they wanted to keep the same designer, Renato Benedetti of McDowell+Benedetti.

'Unlike some of the others, Renato listened to what we said. You could see it in his designs,' explains Alison Drake, Chair of Castleford Heritage Trust. 'We said we still wanted a view and we wanted something that enhanced the beauty of the bay. He couldn’t have done better. We needed some beauty here.'

'Many people couldn’t see the point of having a new bridge,' says Wendy. 'Now it’s become a focal point. People come to take photographs of it and from it. They bring their kids and eat sandwiches on it. It’s bringing people in from outlying areas. Once you’re across and by our houses, you’re out into open fields. You can follow the river round to the bird sanctuary and nature walks.'

Now, thanks to a clean up program by the Environment Agency and local volunteers, the river water is clean enough for trout and salmon (bringing one seal upstream in search of supper earlier this year!).

And money from the Heritage Lottery Fund and WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental) has provided eel and fish passes on the weir so they can get back up stream to spawn.

Although the bridge marks the completion of the schemes that make up Kevin McCloud's Big Town Plan, for the townspeople it is just the starting point. Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council says: 'It’s lifted people, and given us far more confidence about ourselves. It’s the beginning of a further 15-20 years of regeneration over 3-4 miles of riverside, including housing offices, leisure and marine facilities. There’s a new focus on the whole town, a huge amount of house building, more investment coming in and people fighting over the same areas for development.'

There’s little doubt that the people of Castleford will relish every moment. 'I hope it comes over on the programme that communities can get involved in projects,' says Wendy. 'Castleford folk are very stubborn. We just dug our heels in and we said we’re going to have this. Seeing it all come together was really emotional - still is. It’s a fantastic feeling. We’ve got lots of projects still to do - like the landscaping of the river bank. We need to keep our fingers on the pulse.'

The town’s motto ‘Possum si volo’ (where there’s a will, there’s a way) couldn’t be more apt.