Pair fight bridge plan that could raze chip shop

Sam and Madison Emsley celebrated owning The Golden Hind for two years in 2022

A couple who met as teenagers in the chip shop they now run have spoken of their devastation at plans to demolish the building as part of a scheme to construct a new bridge.

The project in Brighouse, planned to improve traffic flow, would connect the A643 between Owler Ings Road and Bridge Road and would see The Golden Hind Restaurant knocked down.

Owners Sam and Madison Emsley urged people to comment in a council consultation on the plan. "We found out we could lose everything, through a customer. In that aspect the council have absolutely failed us," they said.

Calderdale Council said it understood concerns about the proposal and was "talking and listening" to businesses affected by it.

The bridge is part of a wider scheme which would see crossings, improved footways, bus priority measures and junction upgrades created in the area.

Calderdale Council said the proposals for the scheme, which is to be funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, had been formed with help of input from previous consultations.

The Golden Hind sits at the exact point the current road bends to the right

Ms Emsley, 27, said the proposed new structure would completely cut out the bend their business sits on, but do nothing to ease congestion.

She said: "Instead of coming round a bend as it does now, the road will instead go straight through where our shop is.

"The council claim it's to alleviate traffic, but you're still gonna have people queuing, but instead of going round the corner they're just gonna queue straight across the new bridge."

The couple said eventually owning a business they worked together in as teenagers had "opened so many doors and changed our lives in ways you can't imagine".

They said they put their "lives and souls" into the business, "so for it to be "potentially taken away from us is terrifying".

Ms Emsley said support they had received from the local community had "just been amazing, so it definitely does mean a lot to Brighouse".

"We're all friends, we're all family, and there's 12 of us who work there, so that's obviously 12 people's jobs at risk too."

She added: "Something definitely does need doing about the traffic, but this isn't what the people want or need: wiping out businesses and spending taxpayers' money in the process."

Plans for the new bridge include a shared path and segregated cycle track

Sarah Courtney, Calderdale Council's cabinet member for regeneration and transport, said the authority was proposing "major improvements for all forms of transport" around Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse town centre and Woodhouse.

Ms Courtney said the aim was to make it "safer, easier, more reliable and more pleasant, for people to walk, wheel, cycle, use public transport and drive in the area".

She added: "We understand some local businesses have concerns about the proposals.

"We are talking with them, listening to them and will do everything we can to minimise impact in the design of the scheme and during its delivery, to make the community an even better place to live, work and visit."

Councillor Courtney said "no final decisions" had been made yet, with the authority "keen for local people and businesses to let us know what they think of the latest proposals, through a further round of consultation".

Meanwhile Mr Emsley appealed to decision makers to "rethink their plans".

"What they've proposed at the moment isn't going to help any of the congestion and traffic flow in Brighouse whatsoever. If anything it's probably going to slow it down and make it worse," he said.

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