A load of cobbles
Posted by Lizzie
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Sorry to mention more about cobbles (actually I've always thought that they were called sets) but have you noticed that the path connecting the Keighley & Birchcliffe Roads has had some cosmetic attention? A few sets/cobbles were missing and the gaps, and other places, have been filled in with left over tarmac. What a mess! It's not as if the council don't have the odd original spare set they could use!
While I'm having a moan (isn't it fun) am I the only one who think that the vegetation (oh alright they're trees but Hebden Bridge folk get a bit twitchy about the words tree & removal) on the island in front of the packhorse bridge should be cleared? It's all very well tarting up Bridgegate but the view of the towns fine monument is almost totally obscured by these tall 'weeds'.
Posted by Pat McCarthy
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Lizzie, I am one of those who get very twitchy about "the words tree and removal".
Please leave those trees alone!
Not only are they a great source of wildlife but in my view, add greatly to the beauty and attractiveness of our town centre.
I would be very disappointed if we were to see our town become another neat, manicured, trimmed landscape where trees were a sure sign of untidyness.
Those trees in the river are special; they each have their own peculiar character - just like many of us who live here!
Posted by Tim
Friday, July 14, 2006
I heard a rumour that the river was to be dredged, vegetation growing in the walls and on the islands removed and the islands themselves removed. Allegedly this was to be done by the Council but I would have thought it would be the environment agency's job.
Posted by Mick Slack
Friday, July 14, 2006
Lizzie is not the only one who thinks that the mini forest blocking the view of the Old Bridge needs some treatment (waist high vegetation would be fine and would turn over just as much CO2 as the present green eyesore)
The Old Packhorse Bridge gave the town its name and is the essential heritage link to the evolution of the textile industry. The bridge should be on view again from West End Bridge.
The townscape of Hebden Bridge now has more tree cover than at any time since 1800 when Hebden Bridge was little more than "just a bridge". Trees, however, should be part of a townscape, not over dominant. Trees obviously gain height and spread as they grow. Management is essential, otherwise the essential pattern of "townscape" becomes degraded.
Think about the memorial gardens. What we now have is a patch of woodland masking important townscape features and smothering amenity opportunities. Judicious pruning, felling and replacement would reveal a view from the boozing-club benches out across New Road; would invite entry from New Road rather than mask the attractive garden areas and would allow the memorial plot itself to be seen again.
Take your vision further - to the canal bank cleared of the rampant shrubbery and with canopy thinned, terraced and planted (appropriately) to provide a view across the canal with its passing narrowboat traffic, to open the view south to the children's playground and the other park facilities.
These visions expand to see the canal, the Memorial Gardens,the park and New Road become an integrated whole rather than a series of barriers.
Imaginative thinning of the vegetation and tree cover would be the first step.
Which brings us back to the mini forest in the river below the Old Bridge .....
See also
Shops, cobbles and pedestrianisation