Castleford Riverside

Overview

The Council has secured £23.9m of funding from the UK Government’s Towns Fund for Castleford.  

This external grant funding will be used to deliver a series of projects (Castleford Riverside, Castleford Boho (Sagar Street), Heart of Castleford and Castleford Connections which will create a distinctive riverside market town.  

The completed projects will bring more businesses, visitors, and opportunities into our town centre, creating attractive new areas for everyone to enjoy. 

We’ve carried out extensive public consultation on the design of the Town Deal projects, which have received endorsement from the Castleford Together Town Deal Board which is supporting the Council to drive this work forward.  

At the time of approval of the external grant funding, the projects were very much at concept design stage with estimated costings, since this time further detailed design and consultation with the Castleford Together Town Deal Board has been required to reflect the on the ground position with the projects.

Castleford Riverside

The Riverside Project will help make the most of Castleford's proximity to the River Aire, supporting the growth of a distinctive riverside market town.

It uses the iconic Queen’s Mill as an anchor, with the riverside areas either side being redeveloped, Riverside East and Riverside West.  

It will be easier to access the riverside area, and we want more visitors to spend time enjoying it:

• new and improved greenspaces
• there will be an enhanced green area around the Millennium bridge, and a new green space will be created west of Queen’s Mill
• this landscaping will mean a better public space for residents and visitors to enjoy
• retained anchor destinations
• renovation of the historic Ship Inn to provide a new food and drink venue 
• support to Queen’s Mill, essential work to preserve Castleford's heritage 
• this will help maximise the towns potential for hosting events, functions, and providing unique workspaces
• landscaping on the Crimea Tavern site
• we will be demolishing the former public house to remove a derelict property from the area
• this site will be landscaped to complement the new riverside areas

Impact

This project will make the riverside more accessible for more people. We want residents and visitors to enjoy our natural environment and to spend time in this part of the town. In turn that will help local businesses on the riverside and elsewhere in our town centre.

Progress Update

Riverside West  

All properties have been acquired. Demolition work on the site of the Crimea Tavern will start in late Summer 2025. The demolition of the Crimea Tavern was completed in late summer 2025. In early November 2025 site setup works began. This was to prepare for Environment Agency approvals, ahead of the main construction phase. That will deliver a new flood wall and public green space.  

Work will start on the delivery of the flood wall and a new green space as soon as practicably possible after demolition, site clearance and Environment Agency approvals.   

Riverside East  

We’re reviewing this project as we’ve not yet acquired all the buildings needed to complete it. That’s because some of the businesses haven’t yet been able to find alternative premises that meet their needs. So, we’re considering the different options available. All buildings now to be acquired are close to completion.  

The budget for this is still available and the current deadline to spend the funding is the end of March 2028.  

Timeline  

Demolition of the Crimea Tavern will start as soon as possible, once everything is in place  

Autumn 2025: demolition work completed at Crimea Tavern  

Autumn/ Winter 2025/26: work to improve flood wall and West Park greening project to start  

Site set up commenced Autumn/Winter 2025  

Spring/ Summer 2026: all works completed – West Park  

Summer/Autumn 2026: all works forecast completion – West Park