Few oppose Piece Hall and library proposals

Calderdale Council’s projects team has submitted plans to break through the eastern wall of the Grade I listed Piece Hall to create a fourth gateway.

The council also wants to remove the single storey west nave wall of the Square Church ruins and build a new library next to the existing spire.

The library scheme and the listed building applications will be discussed by a planning committee on Tuesday.

Four people are objecting to the library scheme, with one calling it “totally unnecessary” to demolish the existing library.

Six people are objecting to Piece Hall and Square Church plans, with four in support.

One objector said: “It’s unnecessary demolition of part of the Piece Hall, which is a Grade I listed and unique surviving structure of national importance. The application plays scant regard to this and seeks to place structures along the one facade where there have not been structures before.”

English Heritage said: “The proposed development of the former Square Church site as a public library, together with the creation of a new entrance in to the Piece Hall, would alter the setting of adjacent listed buildings and result in the loss of historic fabric.

“However we are of the opinion that the form of the scheme is such that it would not harm the setting of Square Chapel and the Piece Hall and that the resultant harm and loss of historic fabric from Square Church is outweighed by the public benefits of securing a long term sustainable future for the remains of the church...improved connectivity...and will support the wider regeneration for the Piece Hall by creating a new link between the railway station, Piece Hall and the wider Halifax town centre.”

The council’s head of planning, Geoff Willerton, is recommending approval for all the applications.