Castleford school children asked for their views on re-imagining their town

Wakefield Council is encouraging primary school children in Castleford to have their say on shaping the future of the town.

Their views will help inform the emerging Towns Fund projects.

Young people have been challenged to come up with imaginative ideas to remake either the Riverside or Henry Moore Square by describing what they think the place should look like and what activities should be there - with prizes on offer for the most interesting and creative ideas.

Coun Denise Jeffery, Leader of Wakefield Council, said: “We are engaging the young people of Castleford because this regeneration work is to benefit future generations. It is therefore important that young people are meaningfully involved in the process and can have a say on how the future Castleford is shaped.

“We have developed several exciting proposals based on what our residents and businesses told us they wanted to see, which have recently been out to public consultation, so now I’m really excited to see what the young people of Castleford can come up with.

“We want the town to be a place where these children want to stay, to live, work and socialise, so their views are very important.”

The council is planning to invest millions of pounds to revive the high street, provide safer and greener connections between gateways, riverside and town centre, better linking the town and neighbourhoods to encourage increased visits, create new routes for sustainable travel, reduce carbon emissions and create Castleford BoHo – a commercial, cultural and skills quarter.

In addition to regenerating Castleford, the Towns Fund projects aim to develop a more diverse business base, supporting entrepreneurs, home-workers and supply chains, with an expanding stock of high quality, flexible and digitally connected workspace, future-proofed to new ways of working.

This means investing in the people of Castleford to develop a diverse, growing and skilled resident workforce able to progress into work and access a variety of high value jobs at home and compete for wider opportunities across the city region.

This competition is the latest step in plans to involve the people of Castleford at every stage of the planning process. More consultation events on the upcoming £23.9m of investment will follow in the Autumn.

Any schools that would like to get involved or to ask for more information, please contact [email protected]