MEETINGS
The first meeting of Shipley Town Council took place on Thursday 28 May 2020 at 6.00pm.
Agendas for all other previous and future meetings can be found on the meetings page.
Climate Emergency & Environment Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Climate Emergency & Environment Committee, to be held on Thursday 21 January 2021 at 7.00pm. Members of the press and public are welcome to observe/listen to the meeting via video or telephone link. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Trustees wanted at Kirkgate Centre
Shipley’s local community centre, the Kirkgate Centre, is looking for new trustees. Could this be you?
Additional Restriction Grant now open
Applications are now open for the Government’s Additional Restriction Grant.
The below information is provided by Bradford Metropolitan District Council. The grant covers businesses across the Bradford District, including Shipley.
This grant is for:
- Non-essential retail, hospitality and leisure sector business that are operating in shared premises or where the landlord is liable to pay business rates
- Supply chain businesses severely impacted because they wholly or exclusively supply businesses in the hospitality, accommodation, events or leisure sectors
- Self-employed businesses unable to access other Government Covid support
To apply you will need to complete a simple online application form and council officers will determine if your business qualifies for a range of grants including the Additional Restrictions Grant. Evidence of loss of income and costs will be required.
Applications are open until midnight, 29 January 2021.
Since March, we have been working tirelessly setup and pay Covid-19 business grants as quickly as possible.
The council has paid £124m to almost 11,000 local businesses via the Small Business and Retail, Hospitality and Leisure Business grants. This is the third highest of any council in England.
A further £6.9m of Local Authority Discretionary Grant funds has been paid to 639 businesses – the second highest in England.
And we have paid over £7.5m in Local Restrictions Grants to local rate paying businesses which have been forced to close.
Grants from the Allen Lane Foundation
The Allen Lane Foundation funds small registered charities, voluntary groups and charitable organisations.
The Foundation funds charities and organisations that work with seven particular beneficiary groups:
A New Year Message
Firstly a happy new year to you all. I wish you and your families and friends the very best of health and wellbeing as we all face the biggest challenge of our lifetimes.
Shipley Town Council is acutely aware of the problems everyone in Shipley is experiencing at the moment. The extreme pressures on our hospitals, schools and other public services affects so many of us. In addition day to day matters such as shopping for food and wellbeing are critical matters for all of us, but particularly the elderly and the vulnerable.
As a council of unpaid appointees we represent all aspects of life in Shipley. In recent months we have been able to provide small packages of assistance to groups in most need, for example in providing meals for children out of school during lockdowns and donations to local foodbanks to assist whole families.
The Town Council is also utilising its modest budget in various ways to provide direct donations to various local community organisations and charities across Shipley.
We have also observed many acts of kindness by community groups and individual local businesses.
Volunteering is the order of the day and many Shipley people are involved in supporting our community at this time which should fill all of us with pride.
Your town council is there to support all residents this winter. If you want to contact us to discuss anything at all, make a suggestion or simply to tell us a story from where you live in Shipley, please get in touch with us.
With our warmest wishes
Mike Connors
Chair
Shipley Town Council
Allotments & Green Spaces Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Allotments & Green Spaces Committee, to be held on Thursday 14 January 2021 at 7.00pm. Members of the press and public are welcome to observe/listen to the meeting via video or telephone link. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
North East & Yorkshire Arthritis Action Group
Online Arthritis Action Groups
Arthritis Action Groups are an opportunity for people with arthritis to talk with others and share their tips on how to manage their arthritis and stay active whilst at home, and we actively welcome new attendees. We discuss a variety of self-management techniques. Participants will need to contact us directly for the log in instructions for the meeting, and we have produced ‘How To’ guides for those not familiar with using Zoom.
18th Jan 6pm Midlands & North Evening Online Arthritis Action Group
Topic: Self-Management for 2021
25th Jan 2pm North East and Yorkshire Online Arthritis Action Group
Topic: Self-Management for 2021
1st March 6pm Midlands & North Evening Online Arthritis Action Group
Topic: Dealing with Emotions
12th March 2pm North East and Yorkshire Online Arthritis Action Group
Topic: Dealing with Emotions
For joining details see http://www.arthritisaction.org.uk/media-centre/events
Planning & Regeneration Committee
The agenda is now published for the next ordinary meeting of the Shipley Town Council Planning & Regeneration Committee, to be held on Tuesday 5 January 2021 at 7.00pm. Members of the press and public are welcome to observe/listen to the meeting via video or telephone link. Members of the public can also address the committee during the Public Participation period at the start of the meeting.
Merry Christmas, Shipley!
Shipley Town Council has spread a little extra cheer this Christmas by making grants to four local organisations and installing a Christmas tree with lights in the Market Square.
Bradford District Chamber of Trade has received a grant of £2,750, allowing a further fifteen town centre shop-fronts to have Christmas tree decorations installed at no cost to the businesses. Additionally, repairs have been made to the older fittings installed in previous years.
A grant of £500 to Saltaire Village Society has paid for the erection of a large, illuminated Christmas tree in the gardens outside Victoria Hall, on Victoria Road in Saltaire. This grant has helped to offset the loss of income caused by the cancellation of this year’s Saltaire Christmas Fair because of COVID-19.
A contribution of £500 has been made to Marie Curie’s Bradford Hospice Christmas Appeal. This will help to fund the running of the hospice on 23, 24 and 25 December. The Marie Curie palliative care service supported 109 Shipley residents in the year 2019/20. The hospice costs £6,144 to run for each day it is open and the usual fundraising has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 restrictions.
The Town Council has also made a £500 contribution to the Rotary Club of Shipley’s Christmas Toy Appeal. This appeal will ensure that children from Shipley homes or attending Shipley schools, who might otherwise go without gifts at Christmas, receive shopping vouchers to assist their parents/carers with the costs.
Shipley Town Council wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Have Your Say on the £25m Shipley Town Investment Plan Projects
Between 22 December 2020 and 4 January 2021, you can have your say on projects proposed for the Town Investment Plan (TIP) designed to transform Shipley’s economic growth prospects.
Follow the link to the feedback form where you can pick the projects you think are most important. This will help to develop Shipley’s TIP for submission at the end of January.
Adam Clerkin, Chair of the Shipley Town Deal Board and Head of Operations at CarnaudMetalbox Engineering, said: “I’m very excited by the way we’ve all pulled together and developed projects that will secure this crucial Government funding. This work is going to deliver a lasting positive legacy for the whole town.”
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “The Towns Fund represents a fantastic opportunity to deliver real economic and social change for everyone in Shipley in the years to come. Please do have your say on our chosen projects.”
The UK Government’s Towns Fund can provide up to £25m for Shipley to invest in capital projects designed to improve the town (for example, property, connectivity, economic and cultural assets, skills and digital infrastructure).
The Shipley Town Deal Board, which includes businesses, the local Member of Parliament, stakeholder organisations, the voluntary and community sector and representatives from Bradford Council and Shipley Town Council, is leading the work, with the support of many other local businesses and community stakeholders.
After agreeing a vision and objectives for the Shipley TIP, the Board gathered more than 35 initial ideas for projects. These have now been assessed against government criteria for projects suitable for inclusion in a TIP, resulting in a list of 25 projects under seven themes that could all make a real difference to the town.
The Board now needs to understand everyone’s preferences, to help to inform Shipley’s TIP submission, alongside key criteria such as deliverability and sustainability. The proposed projects are:
Town Centre Improvements. Ensuring the town centre is a thriving place for people to live and work, with an improved public realm, better accessibility and walkability, and preserved assets:
- Market Square Improvement (cost £1m to £5m): Refurbish the Clock Tower, new homes on space above shops, retain market hall, improved pedestrian and cycle connectivity and public realm improvements.
- Public Toilets Across Shipley (cost less than £1m): Reinstating public toilets in Shipley.
- Tree Planting Programme (cost less than £1m): A tree planting programme across Shipley, increasing greenery, absorbing pollution and reducing urban heat effects.
Skills. Ensuring the town has the space to support skills for local employment and entrepreneurship, including by increasing the capacity and accessibility to new or improved skills facilities:
- Future Technology Centre Shipley (cost £1m to £5m): New Centre at Shipley College that will support the development of digital skills across a range of disciplines (multimedia immersion, cyber security, medical technology, robotics).
Community and Enterprise. Supporting small business and the third sector’s development, improving commercial space and strengthening their impact on the local economy and community:
- Shipley Library Enterprise Hub (cost less than £1m): To develop and upgrade the exhibition space in Shipley Library to create a Business and Intellectual Property (IP) Centre offering a space to showcase local entrepreneurs, craftspeople, makers and small businesses to include point of sale opportunities, offer support, mentoring and training opportunities, networking events and workspace facilities.
- Capital Assistance to Business Growth (cost £1m to £5m): A grant to support small businesses.
- Community, Arts and Future Technology Centre Saltaire (cost £5m and over): A new multipurpose centre that combines a Future Technology Centre alongside a Heritage Hub and a Community Arts Centre.
Culture and Heritage. Supporting the arts, creative activity, local heritage and landmarks, cultures and sub-cultures, in order to sustain the development of strong communities, strengthen identify, build a local place-brand, promote tourism and create economic opportunities:
- Saltaire United Reformed Church (cost less than £1m): Improve access by fitting a platform lift and incorporating a Visitors’ Centre.
Health and Sport. Develop assets and infrastructure that promote healthy habits (such as encouraging residents to walk or cycle daily and practise sports) and better value existing natural assets such as parks and rivers for leisure and physical activity:
- Wrose Quarry Wetlands (cost less than £1m): Regenerating the heritage site at Wrose Hill/Quarry as Wrose Quarry Wetlands, including adding accessible footpaths, improving biodiversity by creating new wetland features and tree planting, adding new recreational features.
- Active Sports Centre (cost £1m to £5m): Developing an all-weather football pitch and water sports centre.
- Windhill Wild Park (cost £1m to £5m): Improve facilities at Windhill Wild Park to provide safe, attractive facilities for meeting, play and activities all year round.
- Wrose Conservation Area (cost less than £1m): Restoration of conservation area including replacing damaged footpaths and public realm improvements including information boards.
- Health and Wellbeing campus (cost to be confirmed): Create a hub with a wide range of integrated support services.
Infrastructure. Developing key infrastructure to improve the town’s connectivity – both physical and digital – and ensuring economic attractiveness and prosperity:
- Shipley Streets for People (cost £5m and over): Transform traffic-dominated Shipley Market Square into a brand-new public space that features a multipurpose event square with terraced gardens.
- Sustainable Travel Improvements in Shipley (two projects) (cost £5m and over): Providing high quality walking and cycling facilities linking the town centre to periphery and Canal Road Corridor.
- Sustainable Travel Improvements in Saltaire (three projects) (cost £1 to £5m): including traffic calming measures, improving pedestrian safety, building a new “green” walking route north of Saltaire Road.
- Real Time Bus Information – Phase 2 (cost less than £1m): Extending the existing real time information system across the town.
- Windhill and Wrose Community Projects (cost less than £1m): Five small community projects including accessibility improvements (Wrose Quarry, Claremont Park), footpath improvement (‘Big Plant’ area) and enhanced landscaping (Windhill Wildlife Park).
- Shipley and Saltaire Railway Station Improvements (cost to be confirmed): Improvements to rail stations including wayfinding, seating areas, lighting, artwork and cycle facilities.
- Naturalising Bradford Beck (cost £1m to £5m): Re-naturalise Bradford Beck by repairing damage caused by industrial modifications: mitigate flood risk, create a new accessible park with areas of open water, wetlands, meadows and woodland planting and cycle facilities.
- Roberts Park Bridge (cost £5m and over): Re-instating the landmark pedestrian and cycle bridge at the Victoria Road entrance to Roberts Park.
Commercial and Residential Property. A fund to restore and repurpose buildings, or remediate and redevelop sites for commercial and residential use in these areas:
- Shipley Business Development Zone (cost £5m and over): Building refurbishment and repurposing including Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) office at Riverside Estate; Dockfield Road; a new green manufacturing space; and waterfront redevelopment.
- Market Clock Tower Site (cost to be confirmed): Restoration of the freestanding clock town in Shipley’s market square.
- Market Square Commercial and Residential Redevelopment (cost to be confirmed): Redevelopment at Market Square.
- Town Centre Property Improvements (cost to be confirmed): Refurbishment/repurposing of key buildings across the town centre.
The Government has put together a website about the Towns Fund Initiative and is encouraging local people to comment to inform the bidding process.
