Wakefield seeks Castleford masterplanner
The council is set to launch a procurement process for a developer to help with the regeneration of the West Yorkshire town, focusing on land acquisition, housing, employment opportunities, skills development, a transport hub, and a revitalised retail core.
A report has set out the council’s ambition to a long-term strategy to maximise future investment into Castleford.
The council will also be asked to approve an injection of £1.5m into the Capital Programme.
Parts of the town are already being redeveloped, after it received £24m of Levelling Up funding was secured in 2019.
This funding is being used to deliver Castleford Riverside, improvements to Castleford Sagar Street, the Heart of Castleford project on Henry Moore Square, and Castleford Connections, with around £2.5m spent on the refurbishment of the indoor market hall in 2024.
The council believes that to create ‘an economically viable town centre’, it will need a partner to help it acquire and consolidate land and assets as a starting point.
Housing growth is a main concern, with a focus on town centre living to stimulate a nighttime economy, and high-quality office space is also a key priority, as the town’s solid connections to Wakefield and Leeds means it could hope to attract businesses looking for affordable options.
In terms of skills development, the council is keen to build a Skills Centre of Excellence to upskill the local workforce and increase the number of highly-paid people in the area.
An integrated transport hub will, hopes the council, build on the existing good road and rail links to the rest of West Yorkshire, and the hope for the retail part of town is that vacant units will become a thing of the past.
The council is also hoping to ‘unlock the full potential of Castleford’s riverside—an underutilised yet vital asset—by integrating it into the town’s wider regeneration efforts and enhancing its role as a destination for leisure, culture, and community activity’.
The scheme mirrors Wakefield’s appointment of Muse at the start of the year, appointed to speed up and deliver projects across the city centre.
