Kirklees approves £100m for regeneration plans

Kirklees Council has agreed to invest £100m to help bring regeneration plans for both Huddersfield and Dewsbury town centres to life.

Cabinet members agreed last week to invest up to £75m to deliver a number of projects in Huddersfield.

These include a new Sound Space music venue, improvement works to the public realm, a new multi-storey car park at Market Hall, repair works to the George Hotel which will become a new National Rugby League Museum, refurbishment of shopfronts and more.

And councillors have also allocated £26m to projects in Dewsbury.

The money will help to deliver the refurbishment of Dewsbury Arcade which the council has now purchased, public realm and shopfront improvements, public art projects, help to refurbish the library building, new street lighting and more.

The council will continue developing these projects and work will also continue to plan other significant regeneration plans for both towns.

Kirklees Council published its blueprint for Dewsbury town centre in February, while the blueprint for Huddersfield was unveiled in June 2019.

‘When we launched our plans for Huddersfield and Dewsbury town centres, our intention was to get to work and bring them to life and this level of investment shows that we mean business,’ said cabinet member for regeneration, Cllr Peter McBride.

‘Our blueprint visions are long-term and on a large-scale. This investment is just the start of an incredibly exciting regeneration journey for our town centres with further plans being worked on.

‘We can now begin to develop and deliver these key projects and start to create the thriving town centres local people and businesses deserve,’ added Cllr McBride.

‘I would like to thank all the thousands of residents who took the time to view our plans for Huddersfield and Dewsbury and shared their thoughts with us as part of the consultation period. Something that remains important to us moving forward is working with local people to make sure we get this right for them. As we move on to deliver individual projects, we will continue to ask for your input so we can shape our future together.’

Photo Credit – Kirklees Council