Published Date:
26 February 2009
KEVIN McCloud hailed Castleford's "sexy" new £4.8m footbridge as "a triumph" but said he had not expected the town's regeneration to be such a success.
The Grand Designs host, who will present Channel 4's major documentary series The Castleford Project, spoke to the Express after the bridge's opening on Friday.
He said: "The bridge is absolutely beautiful.
"To fully appreciate it you need to walk on it when it is empty. It's a series of curves and that makes it quite sexy, sensual.
"You can stand and listen to the water and watch the hundreds of patterns in it, and be completely entranced.
"It's an experience, an extraordinary experience that Castleford hasn't had before.
"It is a triumph."
He added: "I didn't think I'd be here, even a year ago, saying it's good.
"I thought I'd be saying it's okay, it's mediocre, because this wasn't built, some of the town centre projects were half-way through and didn't look positive.
"But I have to say time is a great healer.
"You can come back to a project and discover what you thought was mediocre at the time is actually very robust and useable and people love it."
The Castleford Project, to be screened in August, tracks the regeneration of the entire town through 11 community schemes.
Kevin said that the bridge would draw in visitors and boost Castleford's development.
He added: "Of course it provides a link for people who live here, who need a proper pedestrian bridge.
"It will also revitalise Sagar Street, which is the road that leads down to it.
"A lot of regeneration projects have helped bring communites together – those communities have become stronger.
"So the real change has happened, and is happening, in the streets and houses, in Castlefields and Cutsyke.
"People are getting proud of where they live."
Questions about whether the bridge – which has already been vandalised – and other projects will last have been raised.
But Kevin insisted the schemes were here to stay and vowed to revisit Castleford.
He said: "If vandalism does happen you start again and you repaint it and you repair it. And if it gets vandalised again you do the same. We don't tolerate it.
"After five years working here there's a real connection with the place and I can't imagine driving up the M62 and not popping in. For me personally, its been a great privilege."
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Last Updated:
26 February 2009 1:48 PM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Pontefract & Castleford