Council chiefs set to sign off £42m town centre revamp
COUNCIL chiefs in Kirklees are ploughing ahead with plans for the socalled Huddersfield Blueprint that they say will rejuvenate the town centre.
The council’s decision-making Cabinet is expected to sign off the “strategic case” for the “cultural heart” that will replace the piazza shopping area next week.
That cultural heart – including a town park, museum/art gallery, library, food court, music venue and new multi-storey car park – will soak up £210m of the total £250m anticipated to deliver the scheme.
The Strategic Outline Case (SOC) has been drawn up by consultant team Leeds-based Turner & Townsend along with London-based Mace who together with agency and property services will be paid £6.55m.
That fee is included within a £42.8m pot allocated by the council over the next five years, which includes the creation of a new multi-storey to replace the one pulled down on Alfred Street.
The SOC report has been described as the first step in developing the concept for the cultural heart project, which will take shape after the piazza and existing shops around the market hall are demolished.
That first step or “concept phase” will conclude next summer with the production of the overall masterplan and the outline business case.
It is at that stage – with a target date of July 2022 – that any commitment to the broader funding will need to be considered.
The blueprint focuses on regenerating six key areas of the town centre:
Huddersfield Station Gateway; St
Peter’s; Kingsgate and King Street; New Street; The Civic Quarter; The Queensgate and Piazza area, earmarked for the cultural heart
Kirklees Council paid £3.25m for the 1970s Piazza. It also bought the landmark Grade II-listed George Hotel for £1.8m.
The George is currently undergoing an £11m revamp. The birthplace in 1895 of Rugby League, it is to host the first national museum devoted to the sport.
In June the council announced that it was to buy another “strategic” building in Huddersfield town centre.
The location of that building has not been revealed but it has been speculated that it might be the former Woolworths site – now Poundland – which straddles both New Street and Victoria Lane.
Clr Peter McBride, the council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, described the cultural heart project as “a game-changer” for Huddersfield and “an exciting step forward” in the transformation of the town.
He added: “Our cultural heart will offer something for every resident and will draw visitors in from far and wide with events and activities throughout the day and into the night.”
Clr Andrew Cooper (Green, Newsome), whose ward includes the town centre, said: “The devil is always in the details of proposals like these and for them to succeed they need more involvement and ‘buy in’ from a wider range of local organisations, businesses, the university and councillors who are not in the ruling Labour Cabinet.
“If this is truly a council that works with people rather than does to people then that needs to be evidenced by their actions.”