A proposal to build a new visitor and community centre in the historic village of Saltaire is facing a backlash from angry residents who claim the building would be a “permanent stain” on the Unesco world heritage site in West Yorkshire.
The £5.39m Community, Arts, Heritage and Future Technology Centre would serve as a starting point for the tens of thousands of visitors to the Victorian model village in Bradford, providing gardens, public toilets, teaching facilities and an exhibition space for the Saltaire Collection, a trove of 19th-century documents and artefacts.
The plans have received a mixed response locally. Though some villagers welcomed the new building on what is otherwise unused land and an old public toilet, a letter encouraging residents to object to the centre was posted through doors last week.
The letter reads: “The building is also (cynically) proposed as an arts/artefacts and heritage centre but Saltaire already has these facilities in the Mill and Victoria Hall. The magnificent Victorian buildings of Saltaire are its heritage. A new-build would be a permanent stain on the wholly Victorian centre of Saltaire.
“The villagers of Saltaire have, for years, put up with restrictions on upgrading their own homes for the benefit of the unique, Victorian heritage of Saltaire village: that is what keeps it a world heritage site.”
Unesco designation can be removed if there is too much modern development in a historic site. Liverpool Docks recently lost its world heritage status after years of development caused an “irreversible loss” to the historic value of the city’s Victorian docks.
Maggie Smith, a trustee of Saltaire World Heritage Education Association, said the heritage of the village was at the forefront of the plans designed by a local architect, 3xa Design, which are part-funded by £25m from the government’s town fund. If approved, the project will be completed in 2024.
She said: “We are currently making very good progress towards museum accreditation and this will endorse the importance of the Unesco designation of the Saltaire site and enable engagement with heritage that is unique in its completeness for a model industrial community.”
Saltaire was built by the Victorian mill owner Sir Titus Salt to provide homes for the workers at Salts Mill, then the largest industrial building in the world.
The Grade II-listed Salts Mill closed in 1986 and was turned into an arts and shopping hub. Parts of the village became derelict and have been restored over the years by various parties, including Shipley College, one of the partners on the visitor centre plan.
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The college said: “Shipley College has been part of Saltaire village in one form or another since the days of Titus Salt, who demanded vocational education be part of his vision. We take our status as custodians of these historic buildings very seriously, and we are excited about the regeneration possibilities this new building presents.”
It added: “We continue to work with our partners the Saltaire Collection and Historic England to ensure that the new building is sympathetic to its surroundings, and provides another excellent facility for this village and the region.”
A Bradford council spokesperson said the project “will go through a robust planning process to ensure any approved building meets the highest design and conservation standards and is appropriate for such an important site”.