During Autumn 2022, volunteers from community groups and organisations from across Marsden, Colne Valley ward councillors and staff from Kirklees Council learned what local people think about Marsden, through the ‘What matters to Marsden’ engagement activities.
We published the ‘What matters to Marsden’ results in October 2023 for everyone to look at. We also wanted to make sure that more local people had the opportunity to contribute as the work progressed.
In Winter 2023 the Marsden Community Trust and Marsden Community Association held drop-in sessions to discuss the results and to work with local people to prioritise what is important to them. This included an option to complete an online questionnaire, which was shaped by what we’ve learned from participants so far.
Who participated?
274
people took part in our ‘Next steps’ activities in Marsden
664
have taken part in ‘What matters to Marsden’ overall
(roughly 17.5% of Marsden’s population)
Local people joined members of Marsden Community Trust, ward councillors and council officers to discuss the results summary. 106 people completed our ‘Next steps’ questionnaire. 61 of the people who completed the questionnaire had also taken part in the ‘What matters to Marsden’ activities in 2022. 168 pupils from Marsden Junior School took part in their own group discussions at school.
What we’ve learned
Through our drop-in sessions, discussions and responses to the questionnaire, we’ve been able to confirm what citizens told us and we’ve established what local people’s priorities for action are. We’ve also learned more about issues in Marsden.
The top 5 priorities people identified are:
- Train station accessibility is appalling for wheelchairs, pushchairs, cycles, elderly and disabled people.
- Village centre has poor traffic control and parking facilities.
- Mills are unsafe, eyesores and a waste of valuable village centre space.
- Train and bus reliability is poor, more destinations and connecting timetables are needed to make journeys easier and more efficient.
- There are lots of derelict buildings and empty brownfield spaces in the village centre.
Over the next few months we will be working with council colleagues, the local community and partners to develop ideas. We’ll then publish an action plan.
Next steps for ‘What matters to Marsden’ results summary (PDF)
A further part of what we learned from the ‘What matters to Marsden’ engagement, was that the views and insights from local businesses about Marsden needed to be drawn out further. The learning was used to re-engage with businesses asking some specific questions. We will use the results alongside what we’ve learned from citizens, to help further inform the action plan.
Marsden Business Owner Engagement report (PDF)
What matters to Marsden
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