Folks
You may have read of the plan that is being proposed to give Castleford Tigers a new stadium in the field adjacent to Junction 32 of the M62, this to replace the earlier proposal across Park Road at Glasshoughton which seems to have stalled.
Clearly if this is to go ahead it will be one of the biggest developments of its kind with a significant impact on both Pontefract & Castleford. If you link that to the proposal to convert B&Q to a Sainsbury Superstore and the further proposal to increase the capacity of the Asda Superstore and the fact that work at the Prince of Wales of site is finally starting to see a prospect of up to 540 houses in its first two phases each discharging on to Park Road then the proposals for handling the traffic will need to be scrutinised closely.
The commercial aspects are likely to be viable, you only need to look at the Tesco deal that gave the Warrington Wolves their new Stadium across the car park from a Tesco Superstore, the stadium scheme is likely to be financed by the developer and or a major retail operator so that they can get public support from the fans. Whilst the developer may wish to have the use of public money at this point that is really not an option considering the Council's other commitments.
Sainsbury have been saying that they expect a significant amount of their custom to have arrived by motorway and I expect any other retail operator will expect the same, so I think that improvements to the M62 at Junction 32 will be critical or Park Road will become an even bigger car park for a greater part of any day and the problems we have at Town End will seem insignificant compared to what may lie ahead with Pontefract effectively cut off from the Motorway.
UPDATE++++++++++
Having had conversations with people who have been looking at this proposal, for many there is a concern that this scheme could cripple any hopes that we have for making our Town centre more vibrant. I am a little more optimistic than that.
However I am uneasy that we may loose further high street retailers depending upon who moves into the new development. One opportunity that needs serious attention is abolition of parking charges. The business rates bill for the new development could more than cover free parking in Castleford and Pontefract and leaving charging in place would be a disaster what with the Asda, Sainsburys and this new raft of shops none of which will make car parking charges.
In addition to the existing small local shops we need to consider moving Pontefract up market with some artisan, craft and food shops, like Hebden Bridge or Wetherby.
With the potential for up to 4000 homes in and around the town, we also need to see some improvements in the town centre, infrastructure, work on schools, medical facilities and perhaps an upgrade to Pontefract Hospital as our population grows.
The developer appears to be the Lateral Property Group and there will be three briefing events run for the public over the next three days:
Friday 4th of April 3pm to 7.30pm at Glasshoughton Centre
Saturday 5th of April 10.00am to 3pm at the Five Towns Centre
Monday 7th April 12.30pm to 5pm at St Giles Church in Pontefract
I realise that this may be short notice, but if you get to any of these you really should. I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Email me: geoff.walsh.npc@gmail.com
or Twitter @Geoff_Walsh_npc
or give me a call.
Geoff
You may have read of the plan that is being proposed to give Castleford Tigers a new stadium in the field adjacent to Junction 32 of the M62, this to replace the earlier proposal across Park Road at Glasshoughton which seems to have stalled.
Clearly if this is to go ahead it will be one of the biggest developments of its kind with a significant impact on both Pontefract & Castleford. If you link that to the proposal to convert B&Q to a Sainsbury Superstore and the further proposal to increase the capacity of the Asda Superstore and the fact that work at the Prince of Wales of site is finally starting to see a prospect of up to 540 houses in its first two phases each discharging on to Park Road then the proposals for handling the traffic will need to be scrutinised closely.
The commercial aspects are likely to be viable, you only need to look at the Tesco deal that gave the Warrington Wolves their new Stadium across the car park from a Tesco Superstore, the stadium scheme is likely to be financed by the developer and or a major retail operator so that they can get public support from the fans. Whilst the developer may wish to have the use of public money at this point that is really not an option considering the Council's other commitments.
Sainsbury have been saying that they expect a significant amount of their custom to have arrived by motorway and I expect any other retail operator will expect the same, so I think that improvements to the M62 at Junction 32 will be critical or Park Road will become an even bigger car park for a greater part of any day and the problems we have at Town End will seem insignificant compared to what may lie ahead with Pontefract effectively cut off from the Motorway.
UPDATE++++++++++
Having had conversations with people who have been looking at this proposal, for many there is a concern that this scheme could cripple any hopes that we have for making our Town centre more vibrant. I am a little more optimistic than that.
However I am uneasy that we may loose further high street retailers depending upon who moves into the new development. One opportunity that needs serious attention is abolition of parking charges. The business rates bill for the new development could more than cover free parking in Castleford and Pontefract and leaving charging in place would be a disaster what with the Asda, Sainsburys and this new raft of shops none of which will make car parking charges.
In addition to the existing small local shops we need to consider moving Pontefract up market with some artisan, craft and food shops, like Hebden Bridge or Wetherby.
With the potential for up to 4000 homes in and around the town, we also need to see some improvements in the town centre, infrastructure, work on schools, medical facilities and perhaps an upgrade to Pontefract Hospital as our population grows.
The developer appears to be the Lateral Property Group and there will be three briefing events run for the public over the next three days:
Friday 4th of April 3pm to 7.30pm at Glasshoughton Centre
Saturday 5th of April 10.00am to 3pm at the Five Towns Centre
Monday 7th April 12.30pm to 5pm at St Giles Church in Pontefract
I realise that this may be short notice, but if you get to any of these you really should. I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
Email me: geoff.walsh.npc@gmail.com
or Twitter @Geoff_Walsh_npc
or give me a call.
Geoff
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