New spatial priority areas agreed for West Yorkshire
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has set areas across the region that will benefit from an increased focus on regeneration and urban renewal, ahead of it becoming a Mayoral Combined Authority next year.
The Spatial Priority Areas (SPAs) which has been agreed at the lates meeting of the Combined Authority follows a review of the original list developed in 2014 as part of the LEP’s Strategic Economic Plan that highlighted the largest and / or most strategic growth opportunities within Leeds City Region. It aims to achieve balanced growth across the area and reflects the wider policy priorities including regeneration and urban renewal, and economic and environmental resilience.
The latest list of SPA areas includes the key towns and cities alongside areas for future investment, growth and environmental resilience across West Yorkshire, and is as follows:
- Core City: Leeds City Centre
- Main Urban Centre: Bradford City Centre; Wakefield City Centre; Huddersfield Town Centre; Halifax Town Centre
- Investment Location Mixed Use: Canal Road Corridor; Chidswell ~; East Leeds Extension; Aire Valley ; City Fields; Brighouse Garden Village (including Clifton); Kirkstall Forge
- Investment Location Employment: Langthwaite Grange Extension; North West Leeds Employment Hub; Newmarket; White Rose Office Park; Cooper Bridge*
- Investment Location Housing: Castleford Growth Zone; Dewsbury Riverside Urban Extension ~; Crosland Moor; Bradley Garden Village
- Investment Location Regeneration: Shipley; Keighley; Dewsbury ; Batley ; Todmorden; Brighouse; Five Towns (Castleford, Normanton, Featherstone, Pontefract, Knottingley); Elland
- Future Growth Location: Knottingley and Ferrybridge Growth Area; South Kirkby Urban Extension; Newmarket; Broad Cut Farm; Apperley Bridge / Esholt; Holme Wood
- Environmental opportunity: Calder Valley
* Sites fall within the Garden Village Corridor SPA Cluster
~ Sites fall within the North Kirklees Growth Zone SPA Cluster
The new SPAs are closely aligned to locations set to receive additional investment through the region’s £317 million allocation from Transforming Cities Fund, the £1 billion West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund, and the £3.6 billion national Towns Fund.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and leader of Bradford Council, said: “As West Yorkshire becomes a Mayoral Combined Authority in 2021, it’s important that our future priorities for investment and growth reflect our region and the needs of our residents. Looking beyond the current pandemic to the recovery, the new Spatial Priority Areas reaffirm our commitment to building an inclusive economy that works for everyone.”
