Otley’s MP gives support to the Otley Riverside Visitor Centre project
Katie White, MP for Otley, has visited the site of the proposed Otley Riverside Visitor Centre and has given her backing to the plans. Katie met with Amy and Richard Houldsworth who showed her the exciting plans and outline the vision for the site, to create a riverside information centre and café, with much public toilets and carparking.
The Otley Riverside Visitor Centre plans were launched in January 2024 and are supported by Otley Chamber of Trade and Otley Bid as well as local businesses. The vision is to transform this derelict brownfield site to become a riverside visitor centre, with café, toilets and a carpark for Wharfemeadows Park, which would be of considerable benefit to Otley residents and attract tourists to the town, benefiting the local economy. This vision delivers Otley Town Council’s Otley Neighbourhood Plan and Otley’s Riverside Vision.
The team behind the plans recently published revised proposals, following feedback from the Environment Agency. The new proposals are even more flood resistant, to work with the Otley Flood Alleviation Scheme, as well as adding additional features to make it even more positive for the town. In operation, the site would be regularly inspected and would be linked to the flood warning measures already in place and the use of the building and site will be managed accordingly.
The plans include the provision of cafe and toilet facilities, which would boost the tourist appeal of Otley’s riverside and replace the popular Dunnies café, which was lost to redevelopment a few years ago. A 90 space public car park, with a coach drop-off, would serve the broader riverside area, including Wharfemeadows Park, which has no carpark as well as increasing parking for the town as a whole.
The proposal would resolve the future of the currently empty and unused brownfield site, which was occupied by buildings at the heart of the community’s economic life until 2002, but which has since had an uncertain future. The site was derelict for several years, following the closure of the historic Bridge End Auction Mart in 2002. The site was threatened with housing development, something strongly opposed by the local community and local councillors. The former Auction Mart was a far greater size and footprint that the Riverside Visitor Centre proposals and was used for seventy years and visited by thousands without ever causing any risk due to flooding.
The proposals don’t alter the existing car park hardstanding area, which has been used since the 1930s and in recent years has been used and benefitted Otley Town Council, Leeds City Council, the Environment Agency, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust and many local events, including Otley Show, Otley Carnival, Otley Victorian Fayre and cycling and sporting occasions as well as film and TV crews.
This proposal doesn’t need any Council/taxpayers’ money or crowdfunding – it just needs permission from Leeds City Council and approval from the Environment Agency.
Commenting, Katie White OBE, Member of Parliament for Leeds North West said:
“Backing the Otley Riverside Visitor Centre is a no-brainer. This project will transform an unused site into a fantastic hub for visitors, providing much-needed facilities and giving a real boost to local businesses.
Otley has so much to offer, and this centre will help attract more people to the town, supporting shops, cafés, and the wider economy. It’s a community-led vision that will benefit Otley for years to come—I fully support it and encourage others to get behind it too.”
Commenting, Richard Houldsworth said:
“We are absolutely delighted to have Katie White MP’s support for this vision, alongside the support of the Otley Chamber of Trade and Otley Bid and many local businesses and residents.
“It was great to show Katie the proposed site of the Otley Riverside Visitor Centre and show her the exciting plans to transform this dead space into a thriving centre and café and much needed carparking for Leeds City Council owned Wharfemeadows Park, with Leeds unable to provide any. We now need the Town Council to offer their support to the vision as well, with it fulfilling a key ambition in their own Neighbourhood Plan and Vision for Otley Riverside Strategy.
“We now look forward to working with Katie as Otley’s MP, Otley businesses and all supportive local representatives to make this exciting project happen”.
ENDS