Major Huddersfield town centre projects could be ‘delayed, deferred or stopped’
Questions have been raised around the Huddersfield Blueprint and George Hotel
Some of Kirklees Council’s regeneration projects will be ‘delayed, deferred, stopped or not started’ following a review of its capital programme.
The review, which includes regeneration projects like the blueprints and George Hotel, is one of the many measures being employed by the local authority to cut back on costs, with the council currently projecting a £20.3m overspend on its budget for the current financial year. A report to yesterday’s (September 6) cabinet meeting explains that some projects will be “undeliverable” within their current funding envelopes due to the impact of price inflation and the pressure on borrowing costs but doesn’t detail those that could be impacted.
The topic was touched upon at Monday’s meeting of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee when councillor Bill Armer (Con, Kirkburton) expressed his concerns about the affordability of the Huddersfield Blueprint and George Hotel projects, considering the council’s financial position.
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However, Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, Cllr Graham Turner, told the meeting that the Huddersfield Blueprint plans are feasible and affordable for the council at this moment in time, being factored into the capital plan. He said that a contractor has been appointed to deliver the Cultural Heart.
As for the George Hotel, Cllr Turner explained that it was a matter of investing to save and in a few years, it “will be worth considerably more than any money we [the council] spend on it”.
Cllr Armer said he admired Cllr Turner’s level of confidence but didn’t share in it.
In response, Cllr Turner said: “If we constantly talk the town down and talk the council down, then that has a negative impact. I’ve had a HD postcode all my life, I choose to live here, I choose to live here because I like living here…
“If I am positive, it’s because I believe what we’re doing is right and hopefully in 10 or 15 years’ time, people will go ‘well they got it right.’ If we didn’t, I’ll hold my hands up but I think we’re genuinely on the right track – renewing New Street, investing in our capital there to create more footfall to support the businesses there. I think Huddersfield’s got a great future.”
He added: “We have a fantastic opportunity for Huddersfield to be something and Kirklees to be something really special in West Yorkshire.”
The Huddersfield Blueprint is a £250m project designed to transform Huddersfield town centre. Making up the majority of this scheme is ‘Our Cultural Heart’ which will be located in the Piazza area.
The Cultural Heart will see an art gallery, museum, library, food hall, public square and urban park brought to the Piazza area. The project is already being delivered a bit at a time using a phased approach with the new food hall and library to be open to the public at the end of 2025, and the other elements of the projects expected to be completed by 2030.
The historic George Hotel is set to become a Radisson RED for the cost of £20m. The hotel will boast 91-rooms, a restaurant, bar, conference room and banqueting suite, and is due to open its doors in 2024.
Conservative group leader, Cllr David Hall, attended the September 6 Cabinet meeting, and asked when the capital plan review would be discussed by cabinet and what considerations would be given to the Huddersfield Blueprint project due to its “enormous cost.”
Cllr Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, said that the capital plan was still under review and that the blueprint project was “always designed to be flexible and done in stages”.
He explained that a contractor had been appointed for the Cultural Heart to sort out prices with negotiations underway between the contractor and the council.
Cllr Hall highlighted that some of the borrowing costs relating to the capital plan for 2023-2031 have gone up from the £415m that was projected in February’s budget to just over £437m in the updated Medium Term Financial Plan.
He said that this “seems to be the wrong way given that we’re trying to make savings” and asked for the reason behind this. Cllr Turner said that the main reason was likely to be the continuing rise of interest rates resulting in greater repayment costs. He added that some of the projects within the capital programme “will be slowed down, mothballed, deferred or probably withdrawn from the capital plan for future years”.
Kirklees Council were approached for comment.
