Calderdale - A Case Study in Tourism Development and Urban Change

The aim of this page is to develop material illustrating a case study in tourism where I have lived and worked for 27 years. This is a case of work in progress: photos and text will be added over a length of time and existing material will be revised and expanded as time permits. Material has been drawn from various sources, including personal recollection. Too little is written up academically, and what has been written does not reflect the complexity of Calderdale's recent regeneration history. My own academic duties leave little time for adding to it except in small amounts. I must apologise if the resulting account is uneven and incomplete, and any errors resulting from this approach are entirely mine.

Calderdale represents a richly interesting area of study for the tourism management student: a non-traditional destination in which issues of sutainability, regeneration and cultural aspects of tourism are highly influential.

Minor changes made: 16 October 2005

Calderdale is one of those 1974 concoctions brought about by the local government act which came into force that year. For many years - perhaps in the minds of some people, still - it was seen at best as an outside interference and at worst as a plot by Halifax, the largest town, to absorb smaller towns who wanted to stay independent. Those towns ranged from Brighouse in the east, through Elland, Sowerby Bridge, Ripponden, Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge to Todmorden in the west, up against the Lancashire border.

As in many valley areas, these communities were long used to their own ways, often regarding people of only a few miles as foreigners, not to be trusted. In their eyes they were independents and radicals in politics, religion and general culture. To off-comed-'uns, as outsiders moving in were termed, this could mean a deep conservatism. It seemed like an area which was once full of change had lost its radical leaders. Some of the influential projects of the 1970s which were to bring revival did so by appealing to feelings of pride which were actually quite parochial and inward-looking. It was often wounded pride, after economic, social and, in 1974, political reorganisation, had left their scars. But to those who did move in and settle in the Calder Valley there was also a warm welcome based on a much more homogenous social structure than was found in the traditional shires.

No other area of Britain seems to illustrate in quite the same way the effect of industrial change on communities. The growth of the textile, wire and engineering industries from the eighteenth century on; the establishment of social systems and services by philanthropic, association and statutory bodies has created a distinctive landscape. So has the retreat from industry, the spread of commuterdom and the rise of tourism. Above: Old Town in the Upper Valley.

More recently a building used by the adjacent Nestle Works (once John Mackintosh), this mill belonged to the Halifax Flour Society which aimed to supply quality product for bread making in the growing Victorian town. Flour was often the subject of large-scale adulteration by adding chalk, dust or other powder.

The residual landscape is rich in its historic legacy of achievement but also impoverished by a legacy of decay, dereliction and dross. Above: a former mill building in part of the Hebble Valley, Halifax.

The John Crossley and Sons mill complex, once the biggest carpet manufactory in Europe, closed in 1982 after almost 180 years.

It was then bought by Ernest Hall (now Sir Ernest) and turned in to a business centre with dozens of small and medium size businesses, arts and eating facilities, and even a Travelodge.

The following is a partly-revised account, written in 1989, of the background to the Calderdale Inheritance Project. This was a Calderdale District Council regeneration programme which came about following several years of work by local Civic Trust groups, Pennine Heritage at Hebden Bridge, and the Council's own departments. The restoration and re-opening of the Halifax Piece Hall in 1976 was an important milestone in this work. However, it was reached only by what appear to have been a series of faltering steps on the Council's part and as a response to controversial plans to redevelop the town centre in a typical 1960s-style total rebuilding scheme.

This account will be revised with further detail in due course.

THE CALDERDALE INHERITANCE PROJECT

Introduction
The Inheritance Project was part of a 'Fair Shares' Project aimed at wide-based community regeneration which achieved major successes and publicity between1985 and 1995. But it represented also the culmination of almost twenty years' efforts, starting from scratch, creating its own resources and changing viewpoints in order to get accepted.

The Local Origins of the Project

During the 1960s several parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire had suffered economic decline with resulting dereliction and depression. In 1964 Halifax Civic Trust organised an environmental improvement scheme in the Bell Hall area, relocating street furniture and tidying appearances, in conjunction with various statutory bodies. A suggestion was made in Hebden Bridge in 1967 that the area between the Yorkshire Dales and Peak District National Parks should be declared a regional "South Pennines Park" , tapping resources available for recreational activities to revive some of the pride of the area. Although the idea was not implemented, it helped to start a chain of events focussing attention on this part of the Pennines.

In particular in Hebden Bridge the work of Calder Civic Trust was instrumental and pioneering in starting a movement combining regeneration and promotion, not only through persuading other people and organisations to take initiatives, but in taking risks itself. A series of actions began which included the publication of guide books and leaflets, the restoration and reuse of buildings, and the setting up of full-time organisations, most notably Pennine Heritage. A unique and particular situation existed in the Calder Valley with very many strands, or, to change the metaphor, many seeds being sewn which became a grass-roots growth of considerable dimensions. Yet there were many things happening in the valley from Todmorden to Brighouse, Ripponden to Halifax, and to someone like myself who came to work as part of one set of initiatives, a complete outsider, it seemed that along with the healthy rivalry which spurred them along, there were also traces of potentially damaging parochialisms. Some people talked about the need for partnerships, but seemed happier keeping old enmities going. This was the more so following local government reorganisation in 1974 when valley towns lost their independence to the new District Council of Calderdale, based in Halifax. I had already seen some of this in Shropshire - or at least, heard of its effects as the New Town of Telford arrived and older urban districts disappeared.

In the Calder Valley interest in local history had always been strong with thriving antiquarian and philosophical societies, the books of Phyllis Bentley such as "Inheritance" , and an important museum at Shibden Hall. That building had become a museum with period rooms in 1934, and a plan of 1949 suggested that historic buildings be added, though it was not carried out. A museum was opened in Heptonstall in 1970 by the Hepton Rural District Council, and later on Ripponden people worked towards their Pennine Farm museum which was opened in May 1974 by Calderdale Council.

Shortly before local government re-organisation a Calderdale Council for Women Conference, met to discuss the future prospects of the new District. This was in 1972, at a time when national concern was growing about environmental matters, the beginnings of the 'green' movement. One of the papers in the conference was by David Fletcher, a lecturer at Manchester Polytechnic, and a resident of Hebden Bridge who had proposed the South Pennines Park along with David Ellis and David Bond. The paper was about the need to improve the image of the area, by improving the surroundings and promoting the new appearance. An organisation called Pennine Heritage was set up by David Fletcher and others in order to attempt those things, and turning a former Baptist Chapel into the 'Birchcliffe Centre' combining offices, meeting rooms, and a residential study centre. Mark Andrew, then a Sowerby Bridge County Councillor, turned derelict canalside buildings into a restaurant and a base for canal boat hire.

The cleaning of the public and private sector buildings in and around Halifax town centre during the national "Operation Eyesore" of 1972/3 revealed much more of the quality of the buildings. Soon afterwards the restoration of the Halifax Piece Hall began, based on a decision taken by the former Halifax Borough Council. Included in it were a museum, an art gallery, an open-air market, forty shops, and an entertainments area. Four awards were received for the work in four years for the quality of the conservation linked with tourism development. A change in perceptions on part of local people began, as they started to look upon their home area as a place of great historic interest. This was supported by the development of sensitive planning and conservation policies throughout the District, which increased public awareness of its architectural and history legacy.

The area's first Tourist Information Centre was set up by the former West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council, and a new Tourist Officer initiated a 'South Pennines' promotional campaign, which covered the western part of the County and the adjacent section of Greater Manchester County. The Centre was at first devoted only to sports and leisure for West Yorkshire people, and smaller than the present Centre. The County Council supported a grouping of local civic trusts in setting up the Calderdale Way, a fifty-mile footpath looping round the district. It linked all kinds of rural environments and was described in a Calderdale Way Handbook. The trail opened in October 1978 and was immensely popular.

Calderdale tourism development promotion work stemmed from the Piece Hall being made into an amenity partly aimed at tourists and partly for local residents. There were also the publication of guide books, the training of tourist guides, and the creation of an advertising campaign with a 'corporate image'. Calderdale Council began a sequence of tourist guidebooks which highlighted heritage and drew in local people to produce them. The Calderdale Way Association approached the Council to reprint and redesign its Calderdale Way Handbook when it ran out of print. In 1984, and as a 'tourist' promotion the John Wesley Festival and a trail booklet based on his life and times brought together activities by each major community and showed what joint work in the cultural field could achieve. The idea had come from a meeting in early 1983 of people involved in tourism, a forerunner of the Calderdale Tourism Association set up in the late 198Os.

The Halifax Redevelopment Plans

When, in the 196Os, many United Kingdom towns were demolishing and rebuilding their centres, there was a plan to do the same in Halifax. Everything between the Parish Church and the Town Hall would have gone. But nothing was done. In 1979 a new Halifax Town Centre redevelopment scheme with indoor mall and bridge to the Piece Hall was rejected by the Secretary of State for the Environment. Many local people saw it as unsympathetic to the adjacent town centre and Piece Hall. The Halifax Civic Trust had taken a lead, publishing a report called “Halifax: The Case for Conservation” and retaining legal representation for the public enquiry into the development.

The revised Woolshops development was the result, with the retention of most of the street and its unique name in a development related more closely to the town's character. The national Civic Trust became involved in the argument over Woolshops. Its officers studied the Halifax built environment and discussed it with Calderdale Council. A suggestion that a Halifax street should be renamed "Quality Street" with restored shop fronts and tourist events was rejected as inappropriate. However, it was agreed that the Civic Trust would produce a report on the potential offered by the heritage, and this appeared in 1984 as "Halifax: A Strategy for Prosperity". In 1986 a second report for rest of the District was completed under the ti tle of "Calderdale: The Challenge" .

Calderdale Chamber of Commerce published its report on the economic future of the area in 1984, at a time when unemployment had reached some 13%. It highlighted the need for co-operative efforts at regeneration, with these based firmly on policies aimed at bettering the quality of life. It said that promotional work should be increased to highlight the features and amenities of Calderdale.

The restoration of the Rochdale Canal had begun in 1982. The Calder and Hebble Navigation was open from the east as far as Sowerby Bridge, but a 196Os road scheme blocked the connection with the Rochdale Canal. In Lancashire major roadworks and building also blocked the canal. A consortium of local authorities and the Rochdale Canal Company set up a Trust which finally restored the whole length and made it possible to cross the Pennines by barge.

The Inheritance Project Programme
The programme outlined in the two Civic Trust Reports was based on four principles:-
· improving surroundings helps improve the economy and quality of life -if resources are small, big problems can be tackled by forming partnerships between public and private sectors
· if the local authority takes the lead by financial pump-priming, external funding several times as much could be achieved - a marketing strategy should be followed to help select which areas to improve, such as shopping areas, and to communicate the new image.

The Civic Trust reports contained suggested examples of environmental improvement schemes, and proposals for Town Forums which would act as the foundations for community decision-making, about what should be done, and who should tackle the tasks. A special Project Team, intended to act as a focus for the initiative, began to be formed from early 1985. It was drawn from the public sector -at first secondments, then permanent employments -and the private sector, the latter being all secondments.

Three main work areas were planned:
· forming a programme of Town Forums
· improvements to the environment
· public relations and marketing programmes to promote the work

There would be three modes of operation:
· direct operation of projects
· supporting projects elsewhere in the Authority and outside
· encouraging the start-up of new projects

By 1 December 1987 the team consisted of the following:

· Director: Calderdale employee ex-Town Planning and Economic Strategy Unit
· PR & Marketing Officer: Calderdale, ex-Tourism Officer
· Business Sector liaison: seconded from Halifax Building Society
· Project Officer, Halifax: Calderdale employee, town planning background
· Project Officer, Sowerby Bridge Riverside, Calderdale employee, ditto
· Project Officer, Upper Valley: Calderdale employee, architectural background
· Secretary/Receptionist: seconded from Rowntree Mackintosh, administration/secretarial background

Additionally, a secondee from the regional office of the Department of the Environment had just completed eighteen months with the Project.

The Programme develops

After an initial public debate in Halifax Library to test out public opinion the programme was launched by the Council in 1985. It started with the restoration of Victorian buildings that it owns in the centre of Halifax. The work concentrated on two main blocks owned by the Council - the 1896 Borough Market and an 1899 block next to it. The work was Council funded with English Heritage grant aid -the first properties at 50% -as a 'pump-primer' and exemplar. It involved the restoration of frontages sympathetic to the magnificent Victorian architecture. Close attention was given to the classical detailing and curved glass was used within doorways. There was a careful choice of colours and gold leaf was used on details, including the carefully-chosen lettering styles. Around a dozen properties were included in the first phase with a Council architect employed full-time till the completion of the work programme.

The Project Team also promoted the Upper George Yard scheme. This is reviving a formerly-derelict area within a key block of Halifax town centre buildings. The inspiration and plan came from the Project Team. Among the key features will be a public house extension providing food, and a small central warehouse of five stories converted for commercial uses. other properties are being given improved frontages onto the yard and sometimes new uses. Signposting schemes and an entertainment programme are being introduced. All in all, the local authority budget has been £30,000, with private sector sponsorship of paving materials and the Community Programme undertaking works. Most of the finance comes from the private owners, however, and they are investing between them somewhere around £1 million in the buildings.

Running in parallel the public relations and promotional programme got underway. Pump-priming funding for joint retail promotions with traders was provided. The historic character of Halifax was exploited as a theme. This created an important incentive encouraging traders to participate in the restoration programme.

During 1986:
· A presentation of the Civic Trust's proposals together with a series of follow-up meetings was made in the six smaller towns of the District. Local groups had the opportunity of selecting the priorities for action by the Council. Ideas being developed included:-
· the creation of a long stay car park on derelict land adjacent to Todmorden town centre
· the rebuilding of Brighouse market (by the private sector) and the creation of a canal-side walk
· further shop front refurbishment schemes
· an improvement scheme for st George's Square, Hebden Bridge
· after feasibility appraisal the conversion of old industrial buildings into small workshops in a number of Calderdale locations
· the Riverside Project Sowerby Bridge

The last named arose through the formation of a Sowerby Bridge Improvement Trust supported by the former West Yorkshire County Council. The aim is to re-develop the character and potential of a large area of largely-redundant mills in the heart of Sowerby Bridge. Now a joint project between the Trust, the Inheritance Project (Project Officer on site), and the Community Programme.

During 1987:
BiC joined the Council and the partnership which had already been created. Many national companies sent representatives to the area to look at the potential for investment and change.

There was strong evidence that the early investment in restoration in Halifax, and the promotional activity, had created a more favourable investment climate in the town. The private sector followed the example of the Council: to date more than a dozen shops have been refurbished ranging from small units up to branches of national chains such as Burtons and McDonalds. They include good examples of Georgian, Victorian and twentieth-century buildings. The scale of work has varied from small alterations to large-scale rebuilding. Project staff have been acting in an advisory capacity.

During 1987 the Council also reappraised the way in which the Inheritance Project worked and created new management and officer liaison arrangements. This was so that all departments of the Council would have the opportunity to be involved in the Inheritance programme, and for the relevant aspects of their work to be seen to be making a positive contribution.

This development has greatly increased the scope for the development of the partnership principle with all sectors of the community. Calderdale Council departments have become more widely involved in the strategy, and field workers conscious of their contributions.
BiC introduced the board of EUREKA! to the area. (EUREKA! will be the title of a children's inter-active learning centre). They were sufficiently impressed to decide that their £lOm investment scheme should be located in the derelict railway buildings and goods yard at Halifax station.

Business in the Community established an office in Halifax at Dean Clough, with Paul Greetham, formerly a local businessman, as project officer. Joint BiC/Inheritance forums were established in the main towns and suburbs to involve community groups in the programme, and in particular to assist them undertake local small scale environmental schemes. This activity at local community level is also intended to draw in the participation of factory owners and others who will be encouraged to enhance the appearance of their properties.

The Prince of Wales revisited Calderdale on 4 December 1987 to inspect the site for EUREKA! , look at progress in Upper George Yard, and see further progress at Dean Clough. He also re-opened the restored and enlarged Magistrates' Court in Halifax, in a splendid late-Victorian building.

During 1988:
An international conference was held under the auspices of the Council of Europe. It ran from 24 to 27 October, and was accompanied by a number of other events, meetings, presentations and exhibitions in the area on the theme of "Heritage and Successful Town Regeneration" .
The Calderdale Council set up a 'Fair Shares' Project to ensure that all sections of the community benefit from regeneration schemes. It has two arms, with the Inheritance Project now being matched by a Community Development scheme.
The major buildings at Sowerby Bridge Riverside were made good ready for re-usage in schemes actively under discussion. This represented some of the biggest capital work to date.
More privately-owned shops were restored, following the Council's lead on its properties in Halifax.

During 1989:
The Community Development component of the Fair Shares Project, announced in 1988, began to create its working team. One of its first tasks was to make improvements in the Furness area of Halifax, where a large housing estate suffered problems of insufficient community provision, a poor environment, and high unemployment.

A leaflet called "The Calderdale Recipe for Success" was launched at the Civic Trust 'Building a Better Britain' exhibition in London during April. Co-funded between Rowntree Mackintosh pIc and the Inheritance Project, it broke new ground for environmental improvement schemes by tackling the methods which draw people and organisations into regeneration work, thereby making a major contribution to the renewal movement. Opening the Exhibition, the Prince of Wales advised his audience to take note of what had been achieved in Calderdale, and how it had been done.

The capital resources used by the Project by 1989 were in the region of £0.5m. These have attracted about £3.5m in investment and external resources (excluding the investment in Eureka!).

By late 1989 the Inheritance team of the Fair Shares Project had had changes, partly through existing secondments ending and new ones beginning.
The team then consisted of
· a Director
· a Public Relations and Marketing Officer
· a Sowerby Bridge Riverside Project Officer -a Brighouse Project Officer
· a Business Liaison Officer seconded from Grand Metropolitan
· an Elland Project Officer seconded internally by Calderdale Council
· a secretary/ receptionist seconded from FKI



[The Inheritance Project ran up to 1995, its planned completion date]