Public consultation has been launched into the new Huddersfield Police Station.

The first images of the new police station in Northgate, just off Huddersfield Ring Road, have been revealed ahead of a planning application being submitted.

West Yorkshire Police and consultants Avison Young have launched a pre-application consultation asking the public for their views before a formal planning application is submitted to Kirklees Council in August 2024.

Huddersfield Police Station in Castlegate is no longer suitable for modern-day policing and a search for a new site for a HQ for Kirklees Police started as far back as 2006.

No site could be found and it was only in 2016 that the search resumed. The force wanted to have a HQ somewhere on Huddersfield Ring Road but failed to secure the only suitable site, thought to be that of the former Huddersfield Sports Centre, where the University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus is being built.

Instead the force widened the search and bought the former Kirklees College site in Halifax Road, Dewsbury, where the new HQ is now close to completion.

 

Back in early 2022 West Yorkshire Police confirmed they had purchased the vacant former Nissan/Fiat car dealership site at 72 Northgate, across the Ring Road from the Tesco store.

The pre-application reveals few details about the facilities of the new police station itself though says it will accommodate 50-100 staff working shifts. It says much of the site is already given over to hardstanding for vehicles.

Previously, the force had said as many as 200 officers and support staff could be based there and there would be a “public enquiry counter.”

It is understood there will be no cells and eventually anyone arrested in Huddersfield will have to be taken to Dewsbury.

 

 

The consultation document says: “The proposals relate to a new police station which, alongside the new district headquarters in Dewsbury, allow the policing functions for Huddersfield to relocate. West Yorkshire Police will continue to operate the existing station until the proposals are delivered.”

The new two-storey building will be L-shaped and will use the existing hardstanding for car parking for 112 vehicles. Existing vehicle access points will be used.

The proposals can be viewed online HERE. Anyone who wants to comment on the proposals should email wyphuddersfieldstation.uk@avisonyoung.com by July 29 2024.