Reform announces change to town centre works following dramatic drop in business footfall

Charles Street in the Town Centre will now remain open to general traffic under changes announced by Calderdale’s Reform administration. Harvey’s of Halifax say last two years has been toughest ever.

Earlier this week Calderdale Reform announced changes to the planned works in Halifax Town Centre, on their Facebook page, explaining to followers:

“We have amended the plans for the works at the bottom of Halifax Town Centre, meaning the road between the Imperial Crown Hotel and the Woolshops Car Park will no longer be closed as planned.”

Cllr Darren Commons, portfolio holder for Highways explained to Calderdale Inside Out:

“The previous administration’s plans would have closed Square Road completely and restricted Charles Street to buses and access only, including access to the car park and local businesses. That would have pushed even more traffic towards the already very busy Charlestown Road/Burdock Way junction.

By reopening Charles Street to general traffic, vehicles will now be able to use both routes, helping to spread traffic more evenly and reduce congestion.”

The original proposals were for a bus gate allowing specified traffic, including buses, taxis, motorcycles and cycles, although access to Woolshops car park would have remained.

A reduction in roadworks will be greeted with relief by Halifax Town Centre businesses who have suffered a dramatic loss of footfall since the works began.

Our analysis of the Halifax Business District counters on Commercial Street and Corn Market shows recorded footfall fell by 11.2% in the 12 months to August 2026 compared with the previous year. Looking just at April–August, the decline was sharper, at nearly 16%. Commerical Street has been hit particularly hard seeing a one third drop in shoppers since 2023.

At Harveys, fourth-generation CEO Tracy Harvey says the last two years have been the hardest the family business has known as it approaches its centenary.

“Yes, there are changing consumer habits, cost of living, larger issues at play as well, but our footfall has been directly impacted by the A629 project works as customers found it almost impossible to physically reach our building. A lot simply gave up coming.”

She says declining footfall, alongside a 30% increase in the store’s business rates this year, makes the future “incredibly challenging”.

Despite those pressures, Harveys has opened two new departments in the past month.

“Even with this backdrop, we have opened two new departments in the last month as we still passionately believe in our business. But we need help and we need support as do the rest of the fantastic Halifax businesses who all work so hard to keep this town centre going.”

Earlier this year another long-standing Halifax business, Merrie England, closed blaming low footfall.

Footfall at Halifax’s two business district monitoring points is falling much faster than the regional and national trend. Figures from footfall monitoring company MRI OnLocation, (formerly Springboard), show a 11% decline for the year to its July 2026 reporting period. That compares with a 3% fall across its North and Yorkshire benchmark and 2% nationally - making Halifax’s percentage decline more than three times the regional rate and five times the national rate.

This drop follows an already difficult year. At the same stage in 2025, Halifax’s recorded footfall was down 8.1%, while both the regional and national benchmarks had risen by 0.6%. The latest figures show further deterioration after an earlier decline.

The July reporting period alone, covering 6 July to 2 August, recorded 224,436 pedestrian movements, down 9.4% on the equivalent period last year. The regional decline was just 0.7%, with the national figure down 0.4%.

The readings come from counters on Commercial Street and Corn Market, rather than a count of everyone visiting Halifax. They show those locations losing footfall much faster than the wider benchmarks, although they cannot establish how much of the decline is attributable to roadworks. Source: MRI Halifax BID footfall report, July 2026. 

Woolshops shows a much smaller decline. Between April and August, footfall was down just 0.5%, compared with a 15.7% decline at the two Halifax BID counters over the same months. And when compared with its pre-covid figures in 2019 Woolshops is broadly flat. Drilling a little further performance varies within the shopping centre. Over the latest 12 months, the Market Street and M&S entrances recorded declines of 3.4% and 3% respectively, while the Piece Hall entrance rose 5.5% and Woolpack rose 14.7%.

But it’s not just Halifax businesses feeling the roadwork strain. In July the new Reform administration announced a pause to works in Brighouse Town Centre following an outcry from local traders. A group of independent traders called ‘BRISK’ (Brighouse Independent Shopkeepers), said the town was “on the brink”following widespread disruption caused by a major revamp of the town centre. A redesigned scheme has since restarted.

In stark contrast The Piece Hall has announced record attendance numbers for its highly successful concert series, and last year claimed Calderdale gets a £68m annual economic boost from its presence. This will leave some Halifax shopkeepers scratching their heads as economic activity generated by the Piece Hall doesn’t appear to be translating into “bums on seats” in Halifax’s business district.