Huddersfield Civic Society Executive Committee Meeting, January 12, 2026
The meeting was held at Westins on St Andrews Road at 7pm.
Attendees: Gideon Richards (GR), Geoff Hughes (GH), Ann Denham (AD), Howard Smith (HS), Amanda Boothroyd (AB), Michael Woodward (MW), Sylvia Johnson (SJ), Yun Gao (YG), Robert Taylor (RT), Andrew France (AF), Adrian Pitts (AP).
Apologies: Bernard Ainsworth (BA), John Eastwood (JE),
Chair Stand-in Activities
– Chair this meeting: Gideon Richards
– Volunteer Chair for future meetings confirmed Mike (Mar 9)
– Discuss with HCS President, Bernard Ainsworth re chairing the AGM (Mar 25) (Action GH)
- RT volunteered to edit a small Feb Members Newsletter (Action RT).
Minutes of the Previous Meeting (10/11/2025): Version 1.3 accepted as Final with one minor amendment.
Membership Report as at 7 January 2026
| Member type | Individual/U25 | Joint | Corporate | Total | Changes |
| Totals – ALL CATEGORIES | 94 | 17 | 20 | 131 | -42 |
| Total ACTIVE members | 94 | 17 | 20 | 131 | 6 |
| Paid (correct amount) | 40 | 5 | 12 | 57 | -45 |
| Paid (wrong amount) | 8 | 2 | 0 | 10 | -8 |
| Free/Rollover | 9 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 9 |
| New this report | 4 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Not yet paid | 37 | 8 | 7 | 52 | 52 |
| Resigned this Year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lapsed this Year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Deleted (corrected) this year | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
We start a new membership reporting year 2026 with 131 active members.
Since the last report in November, we have had 4 new Individual and 2(4?) new Joint Members:
As of 7 January 52 of the 131 remain unpaid, with 10 having paid the wrong amount.
Send reminders for outstanding subs and request for corrections to wrong payers at end of January (Action HS)
Interim Treasurer’s Report 2025 (GR)
– Approx £3300 in current account and £16,763.38 in Savings Account at 31 Dec
– HCS 2025 accounts planned completed + reviewed by Stephen Challenger, for Mar 9 mtg (Action: GR)
– GR presented draft 2026 budget.
– Thanks were expressed to GR for his work in producing the draft 2025 accounts and 2026 budget.
AGM Wed 25 May
- Will need nominations for Chair and required key officers.
- Produce short nominations request for Feb circular (Action GH)
Book publishing:
- Produce draft HCS publishing policy for next committee meeting (Action c/f: AP,YG,GR)
- ‘Highfields’ book stock 30 after 2 sales in two months over Christmas.
- Establish cost of any potential small reprint from Paul Buckley for next meeting (Action GH)
Civic Voice and YHACS:
- Attempts continue to revitalise Civic Voice as a totally volunteer-run organisation
- SJ and MW attending YHACS quarterly meeting in Harrogate Sat 31 Jan (Action MW/SJ)
- HCS has been asked if we would like to host a future YHACS quarterly meeting. Host society usually pays for venue and offers guided walks. Consider options after Harrogate meeting (Action MW/SJ)
Planning Update:
- 27 Market Place: retrospective application for false ceiling APPROVED
- Application for town centre advertising panels around proposed new defibrillators REFUSED
- Application received for new HMO (House in Multiple Occupation) above building next to Barclays
- Huddersfield Open Market transformation plans – traders object to proposed emphasis on food
- George Hotel: partial demolition/rebuild believed awaiting contract agreement/signature
- Castle Hill: KC report on financial viability has been produced. No date yet for Strategic Planning
KC Officer meetings update (both in Civic Centre 3):
- Wed 21 January 09.30 Planning meeting with Joanne Scruton and Julia Steadman: GH,RT,AP,GR
- Thu 29 January 16.00 ‘Town Centre’ mtg: Joanne Tansley, Thomas Fish, Chris Duffill: MW,AD,SJ,YG,?HS
- Circulate Briefing note to KC and HCS attendees (Action GH)
May ‘All out’ Local Elections: can they change Kirklees Dynamic? (GR)
- Attendees discussed whether to undertake any election-related information events but decided to take no action, on the basis that HCS’ position on issues would remain unchanged and that HCS would respond to whatever is the new political composition of Kirklees Council after May 7.
Future Events:
- Thurs 22 January HCS Social – 18.30 to 19.00 arrive. Approx 40 attendees, arrangements as per last year. HCS committee expressed thanks to John and to Laura
- Wed 18 Feb: Green Spaces of Huddersfield: speakers Adrian Pitts (Natural Kirklees), Jeff Keenleyside (EPIKS) and speaker from White Rose Forest
- Confirm talk title, arrangements and text for publicity (Action AB)
- Wed 11 Mar: David Griffiths on devt of Huddersfield 1900-1940. Complete arrangements (Action GH)
- Speaker booked for AGM Felix Kumi-Ampofo (WYCA). Confirm title, description text etc (Action: GR)
- Liaise with David Threlfall-Sykes – COO for HTAFC on Stadium area developments (Action AF)
- Rochdale Town Hall visit. Pursue re possible Tue 21 Apr or weekend visit? (Action SJ)
- Possible summer visit to Portland Works, Sheffield. Investigate possible summer visit (Action SJ)
- Liaise with Revd Rachel Firth re Celebrate Huddersfield event, St Peter’s,19 Sept 2026 (Action: SJ)
Possible talk topics for a later date
- George Hotel: the real story
- Update on Transpennine Route Upgrade
- Kirklees Council lead officers, eg David Shepherd
AOB
- Meeting agreed to pursue enhancements (using USD39 website plug-in) to HCS website Photo Gallery
in order to make it a showcase for pictures of how Huddersfield has changed in recent years.
Liaise via Andy with Graham Wrathmell (Action: GH)
Future HCS Committee meeting dates (all 19.00 at Westin House):
9 Mar (Chair Mike), 11 May, 13 July, 14 Sept, 9 Nov.Also AGM Wed 25 Mar
Geoff Hughes January 15, 2026
Approved at HCS Committee Meeting March 9, 2026