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| SILSDEN TOWN DESIGN STATEMENT | |
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3. LANDSCAPE SETTING The Parish of Silsden lies in West Yorkshire within the Southern Pennines Character Area. This area lies between the northern boundary of the Peak District National Park and the southern boundary of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The Southern Pennine landscape owes its appearance to its geology, the climate and the continuous and cumulative effects of human exploitation. The broad landscape is a large-scale sweeping landscape of exposed moorland and pasture. Agriculture is limited to sheep grazing on upland pasture with small-scale dairy farming in the valley bottom. The majority of farmholdings are small. The fields are generally small and defined by stone walls and post and wire fencing. The area is a valuable water catchment area and includes a large number of reservoirs that form a major contribution to the overall landscape. The distinctive long ridge of Rombalds Moor is formed of millstone grit. The Aire Valley is relatively wide and flat and the bottom is enriched with alluvium. Silsden is a small town situated on the northern side of the Aire Valley through which passes the A629 dual carriageway, Keighley to Skipton railway line and the Leeds Liverpool Canal. The town lies on the A6034, a heavily used transport route between Keighley and Ilkley. The central part of the town is located on gently sloping land at around 105m (above ordnance datum) with surrounding land falling away to the River Aire at around 90m, and rising up to 381m at Windgate Nick on Romabalds Moor and 184m on Silsden Moor.
The elevated position above the flood plain of the River Aire would have historically raised the town above the valley floods. Silsden Beck passes through the centre of the village forming an important drainage route from the moors to the River Aire. Two small hamlets lie to the east of Silsden: Brunthwaite and Swartha. Brunthwaite Beck passes through the village; Swartha is perched on a locally high area at around 200m. Silsden itself has been heavily developed both historically with industrial development around the town centre, and more recently through residential and commercial development. As a result the green spaces within Silsden, which include the Silsden Park and Bradley Green, are extremely important. Today Silsden is a heavily developed town that rests in a landscape that is largely agricultural. Development pressures could potentially affect large tracts of the locally important landscape setting of Silsden. The future landscape setting of Silsden Over 97% of those living in Silsden consider that the landscape of Silsden is of importance to them. Local opinion is strongly against any expansion into the surrounding countryside, as indicated by Bradford Council’s UDP proposals. However, should this expansion occur, the residents of Silsden have identified a number of landscape requirements.
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The proposed by-pass along the eastern side of the town must be screened from housing within Silsden. This could be either in a cutting or screened with earth banks and woodland planting.| SILSDEN TOWN DESIGN STATEMENT | |
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