Huddersfield: 'We're making the most of our heritage and assets to attract more investment to town centre'
The face of Huddersfield may be changing but Kirklees Council leader, Carole Pattison, is clear that the town must retain its identity.
“We don’t want to compete with our neighbours, we want to complement them,” she says. “We need to provide our own unique offer that’s based on our heritage that we have here in Huddersfield, one that local people are very proud of.”
The Huddersfield Blueprint is the masterplan for the town’s regeneration. The vision? “We want the future of Huddersfield to be a busy, family-friendly town centre that stays open for more hours of the day,” the local authority sets out, “with a unique offering of culture, arts and leisure, and a wide variety of thriving businesses.”
For Coun Pattison, it’s about creating experiences for residents and visitors, creating places for people to meet and socialise, and creating things for them to do. Already that’s happening. Last year, The Light in Kingsgate opened its doors, a development supported by the council through a regeneration loan.
With a six-screen cinema and 15 different activities, from climbing to batting cages, it’s given people more reasons to spend time in the town centre, the authority says.
Meanwhile, work is continuing on the Our Cultural Heart scheme. Phase one, due to be completed this year, is set to bring a new food hall, public square and modern community library, to the town, the latter with a designated maker space celebrating Huddersfield’s textile heritage and giving people the chance to be creative and learn new skills.
A museum and art gallery, urban park and live entertainment venue are also being planned in future phases of the scheme.
Other projects in the town include the renovation of the Grade II* listed George Hotel, which once restored will be managed by the Radisson Hotel Group; refurbishment of the market with plans for more market events; and the ‘station gateway’ regeneration scheme.
“The new regenerated Huddersfield is coming into view,” says Coun Pattison. “What we’re doing is building on what we’ve already got, but making it available to more people.”
The hope is greater footfall in the town centre “which brings more money in and more visitors and boosts the local economy,” she says. “But not only do I want to see people enjoying the town centre as an experience and somewhere to come I want to see people living here as well… We’ve got quite a few flats around the town centre now.”
Residential accommodation is a key part of the modern high street, says Charles Maltby. He’s the programme director of Huddersfield Unlimited, an organisation that stands for the town and its businesses, investors and diverse communities.
“There’s scope to see things change without losing the character of the many listed buildings in and around the town centre, but hopefully repurposing some of them,” he says. “Town centre residential has got to come onto the radar in the sense that people living in the town centre will energise it more and to some extent overcome those that don’t go in the town centre because they see it as a little bit of a black spot.”
Both he and Coun Pattison agree that revitalising the town centre will support investment and further economic development.
“The more we do, the more we improve the town centre, the more people see what we’re doing and the more they’re interested in investing here,” Coun Pattison notes, “either in residential properties, in office accommodation, in pubs, restaurants, more hotels even. So it will become a very thriving town centre.”
It needs the backing of the community too, Charles adds. “It needs us to go and be there. Otherwise, why would people invest in a new facility, a new restaurant, a new residential conversion of an old building or whatever it is, if we’re not going to be there and partaking in these things. They’ve got limited incentive to be making investments.
“We can’t keep looking at the public purse for those things either. It’s got to come from private investment as well.”