City of Bradford (Airedale Partnership)

Area

The Worth Valley joins Airedale at Keighley and runs in a south westerly direction to the River Aire. It is a mixture of high moorlands, valleys, small settlements and villages.

Background

Airedale was identified as a key economic growth area within the Leeds City Region and in the Regional Spatial Strategy. The settlements included in this urban fringe area are those that link directly to and feed the core area of Airedale. Its main towns as well as the cities of Bradford and Leeds are essential to supporting the economic and social regeneration of the area.

Since the inception of the Airedale masterplan in 2005 extensive networks and relationships have been established both at a strategic and local level with different organisations.

The project focused on the Worth Valley working with the Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council  in developing their new plan which would aim to engage with people and connect local people to the City Region so that they understand their contribution to the competitiveness of the City Region through local action.

The project aimed to:

Engage communities in the urban rural fringe of Airedale, in particular the Worth Valley so that they understand and develop their contribution to the competitiveness of the Leeds City Region and the Yorkshire Region through local action.

This was done through:

• Developing a sustainable community engagement process that allowed those at the urban fringe to connect both horizontally and vertically in the decision making processes affecting their future.
  
  
• Identifying strategies, policies and programmes that will have an influence on the future of local urban fringe settlements.
  
  
• Understanding and testing how to prioritise strategy, policies and resource issues for the urban fringe.
  
  
• Better targeting of funds for urban fringe maintenance.
  
  
• Use of the above to inform local community settlement plans that will influence strategies and activities and seek to enable communities to contribute and add value and resources.