Otley 2030 works with university students on alternative masterplan

In October, Otley 2030 held a well-attended exhibition at Otley Courthouse displaying the Exemplar development and asking members of the public for their thoughts on what should happen at the site. The community group have recently, and for the second year running, been working with students from the MSc in Sustainable Cities course at the University of Leeds to come up with ideas for the site.

The students’ brief was to come up with a design for Phase 1 of the development that would be in line with the Otley Neighbourhood Plan as well as Leeds City Council’s ambitious Local Plan Update - the main focus of which is to ensure all future developments follow LCC’s ambition for Leeds to be a net-zero city.

Otley 2030’s Community Development Lead, Andrew Howarth, said: “It was important that we used LCC’s stated ambitions to frame this work as the original plan put forward by the East of Otley Consortium (of which LCC is a member) was disastrously far removed from this and would have had a terrible effect on carbon emissions, biodiversity, Otley’s amenities, and crucially would not have provided the affordable housing that Otley desperately needs.”

Students enjoyed a guided walk around the site

Otley 2030’s proposed Phase 1 design would be located to the west of the site and connected to the main town, therefore increasing connectivity and carless travel options. It would also include the building of the school and new amenities, in order to relieve the burden on Otley’s already overstretched infrastructure.

The collaborative project with the University of Leeds took place over two weeks, with Andrew Howarth visiting the University on the first day to deliver a lecture on the history of the development and to set the challenge. The following week, the students were guided around the site by Andrew and by Alex Eve, a local cartographer who helped to design the Exemplar map. Alex said: “It was extremely gratifying just seeing such a cohort of future city designers all committed to working for a sustainable future. It will take a while to absorb all that we were presented with but there was plenty of food for thought!”

The students worked in groups on different aspects of the plan, including housing design, energy, transport, amenities, and biodiversity, before presenting their proposals on the final day of the two-week project. Participating Master’s student, Becci Procter said: “I have found working alongside Otley 2030 on the East of Otley Project very useful. It has allowed me to have an immersive experience of a live project that is happening in my local area. We had the opportunity to explore the possibilities of improving the housing development, applying knowledge we had learnt in the week before.”

Students presented their plans and proposals on the final day of the project

Otley 2030 hope that some of the students will choose to collaborate with the group on their dissertations. One of the students who completed this project in 2022 is now an Otley 2030 trustee.

Members of the Leeds City Council planning department were invited to attend the presentation but failed to respond.

Paul Chatterton, Professor of Urban Futures, University of Leeds said: “Sustainable Cities Masters students at the University of Leeds, have been supporting Otley 2030 to develop a workable housing alternative that responds to the climate and ecological emergencies. We want to support Otley to bring forward an exemplar project that can meet the ambitious Local Plan update in Leeds and go on to be an inspiration for other communities across Leeds through the National Lottery funded climate action programme.”

You can find out more about the East of Otley and about Otley 2030’s work by going to www.otley2030.com or by emailing hello@otley2030.com