Huddersfield’s regeneration has reached a “tipping point.”
That was the overwhelming verdict coming out of Huddersfield Unlimited’s fourth annual conference this week.
The event, held at the Accu Stadium on Wednesday, heard from a host of speakers who all had an exciting message about Huddersfield and its on-going regeneration.
Huddersfield Unlimited, a business-led organisation funded by private companies and individuals, has helped galvanise the town and promote investment.
The group’s chairman Sir John Harman (above) said: “There’s a feeling around the town that things are really moving and the momentum is with us.”
Sir John, a driving force behind the building of the Accu Stadium when he was leader of Kirklees Council, urged the public and private sectors to work together to make the right projects happen.
“When we decide we want to do something, let’s pursue it and get it done,” he said.
“I know from my time in the public sector that decision-making is not always the quickest.
“That’s not me expressing any criticism – I know how difficult the job is – but when we seize on something, we need to figure out how to make it happen.”
Our Cultural Heart. Image by: Virtual Huddersfield
The conference heard from Kirklees Council’s director of place David Shepherd who spoke about the £1 billion-worth of investment currently going into Huddersfield, ranging from the TransPennine Route Upgrade to the University of Huddersfield’s National Health Innovation Campus.
Mr Shepherd highlighted the council’s £240 million Our Cultural Heart town centre regeneration which has been described as a “game changer.”
Phase 1 – a new food hall, library and a public events space – is due to open in summer 2026.
That will be followed by a new museum and art gallery and demolition of the Piazza Centre to create an urban park.
Phase 4 will probably be a multi-storey car park and Phase 5 a multi-use events venue that could accommodate large scale regional theatre productions.
Mr Shepherd spoke about how the town centre was being re-invented with arts-led creative businesses in the newly-refurbished Byram Arcade and The Light’s cinema and entertainments venue at the Kingsgate Centre.
The new George Hotel, with 108 bedrooms, would open as a Radisson RED within two years.
The next stage of regeneration was likely to focus on town centre living. Plans to turn the council-owned Estate Buildings into apartments was on hold but Mr Shepherd said: “In the fullness of time I can see 1,500 homes in and around Huddersfield town centre.”
The council couldn’t do it alone, however, and “there’s an opportunity for others to get involved,” he said.
Felix Kumi-Ampofo (above), director of inclusive economy, skills and culture at West Yorkshire Combined Authority, spoke of how the authority aimed to tackle the three main barriers to growth: transport and connectivity; lack of investment; and skills.
Huddersfield’s Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor is part of the West Yorkshire Health Innovation and Digital Tech Investment Zone and the town hopes for the lion’s share of a £220 million investment to create new jobs.
“What we are doing here in Huddersfield is absolutely world class,” he said.
Kirklees Council’s chief executive Steve Mawson said the council was “open for business” after a financially difficult few years.
He raised the thorny subject of delays in the planning department which developers say have been holding back growth.
Mr Mawson said the problem was being addressed with new recruitment and a key new appointment.
“We have some big changes coming down from Government and we have to be faster and improve productivity,” he said.
“A 144-page document for a two-storey house extension is ridiculous. That’s where people are spending their time. We have to be better and we have to be faster.”
Council leader Clr Carole Pattison (above) spoke of a pivotal moment and a “tipping point” which happened last month when the public was invited inside the new food hall in Our Cultural Heart and suddenly started to believe.
Around 300 people queued to see inside what was still a building site and Clr Pattison said the public mood went from ‘What’s happening, it’s a waste of money’ to ‘This is wonderful, it’s great and I can’t wait to eat here.’
The conference also heard from David Threlfall-Sykes, chief operating officer of Huddersfield Town, who outlined an exciting vision for the Accu Stadium and its 53-acre site.
The stadium is now under the control of the football club and a team is working on what he described as a “gigantic feasibility study” to decide what should be built around the stadium.
A hotel is the priority but the club wants to complement wider developments, not compete.
“It’s all about partnerships and working together,” said Mr Threlfall-Sykes. “We want this town to be as good as it can be.
“People gravitate to the football club in a way they don’t with other businesses. We are a fulcrum.
“Come and speak to us and let’s do something really special for the town.”
The conference also heard from Liz Towns-Andrews from the University of Huddersfield on the National Health Innovation Campus which opens the second of seven buildings early next year; and landowners and developers Edmund Thornhill, of Thornhill Estates, and Adnan Shaikh, of South Street Asset Management, who is building 260 new homes on the site of former student accommodation at Storthes Hall in Kirkburton.
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