HCS Members’ Update February 2026

Welcome to our newsletter which this month covers:

  • An update on our dialogue with Kirklees Council
  • Station Gateway and St George’s Railway Warehouse. Latest proposals.
  • February 18.  A talk about the White Rose Forest and related environment initiatives
  • March 11.  A talk on the Arts and Crafts movement and its impact on Huddersfield
  • March 25.  AGM with accompanying talk from a guest speaker.
  • An update on planning applications
  • Northern Powerhouse announcement.
  • A reminder that subscriptions became due on January 1.
  • Dates for your diary.

Recent Dialogue with Kirklees Council

In late January two small teams from HCS each held meetings with officers at Kirklees council.  The primary intention was to re-establish contact with council officers and to confirm their roles and responsibilities.  The first meeting discussed ongoing work within the council to draw up a new Kirklees Local Plan. It also looked at concerns about planning enforcement. The second meeting looked at current and future plans for regenerating Huddersfield town centre.

All local authorities must produce a Local Plan. It’s a statutory, community-influenced document to guide the future development, land-use and infrastructure needs of an area.  The plan is the primary basis for deciding on planning applications and ensuring development is aligned with national and local policies.  The UK government issued new guidance documents at the end of 2025 resulting in further delays before Local Plans can be finalised. 

A full council election will take place on May 7, 2026, so it’s unlikely there will be much in the way of public announcements before this date. There is also a need for Kirklees Council to work in conjunction with West Yorkshire Combined Authority on the West Yorkshire strategic plan.  We know that all local authorities are required by government to build more housing.  The target figure for Kirklees is to build 1,873 new homes each year.

Following the elections in May, Kirklees Council will formally announce a notice of intention to commence preparation of a Local Plan.  There will be an early engagement stage of around four months and Huddersfield Civic Society expects to be consulted on this. Longer-term, the proposed plan will be subject to independent scrutiny to ensure it is consistent with national policy and based on robust evidence. The plan will be formally adopted on a date yet to be confirmed.

In addition to discussions about the Local Plan the meeting also considered planning enforcement.  It was stated that there is currently a large number of ‘open’ enforcement cases with limited resources available to handle these. Despite this, the Civic Society was encouraged to continue reporting concerns including listed buildings considered to be at risk.  Finally, the question of Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) was raised.  Legislation requires that most developments in England should deliver at least a 10% increase in habitat value. Kirklees Council intends to appoint an officer in the very near future with specific responsibilities for overseeing BNG-related matters. It was acknowledged that some BNG funding associated with earlier projects had yet to be collected from developers.

A second team met with four council officers on January 29 to look specifically at developments in and around Huddersfield town centre.  We were provided with an update on the building work associated with the Cultural Heart initiative.  We didn’t get opening dates for the new library, food-hall and art gallery.  We asked about intentions for the larger exhibits at Tolson Memorial Museum.  It is still not evident what is planned for these.  We also asked about the council’s longer-term intentions for the Tolson Museum building and the surrounding parkland.  Again, plans are not yet clear.

We were told that Kirklees Council will be looking at initiatives to increase the quantity of good quality residential living in and around the town (not just student flats).  The intention is to increase the number of people living in and near to town.  One attraction will be the improved and better-connected railway station.   A town centre containing more residents will go some way to offset the impact of a declining retail sector.  We talked about other nearby towns with similar initiatives already in place to increase town centre living.  Stockport and Oldham were mentioned as two town with plans already in place to increase town centre living.

We had conversations about specific local sites.  St George’s Railway Warehouse and the old infirmary building were briefly discussed.  Both are listed.  Both are currently unoccupied.  We also spoke about an access route from the new Cultural Heart down to Cross Church Street and onwards to the university. Until recently, there was a steep flight of steps, now decommissioned.  It was said that an improved route would be implemented within the new urban park intended to more closely link the Lawrence Batley Theatre with the new developments.

Finally, officers explained that just earlier that afternoon councillors had voted to defer a decision to approve plans to refurbish the Open Market. Proposals will be revised and resubmitted.  It was said that grant funding, received from the government for this project, must be spent by March 2028.

The aim in both these brief meetings was to re-establish contact with council officers and to improve communication on all issues of shared concern.

Huddersfield Station Gateway’s latest proposals.

On January 13 Kirklees Council approved a masterplan to develop a new western entrance and new station square on the St George’s Railway Warehouse site. 

This is an area most of us would consider to be to the rear of the station building and platforms and includes land adjacent to the massive St George’s Warehouse, a listed building but one which has remained unused for many years.

At present, much of this space is occupied by temporary offices erected in the past year or so for people working on the TransPennine Rail Upgrade Project.  Consultants led by Arup have worked up these high-level proposals over the past couple of years.  Further work will be required including funding bids and investment decisions.  

Key proposals include building a new 5-storey multi-storey car park (MSCP) and a new entrance and exit to/from station platforms.  This new gateway to the station is described in the masterplan as ticketed/paid access only. The plan additionally proposes something referred to as a ‘mobility hub’, essentially a secure bike storage facility to be located at what is currently the back of the station.

Under the current proposals anyone using the new MSCP, or the bike storage, would not be able to take a direct route through the station to St George’s Square, the George Hotel or the town centre and should the plans for the currently disused St George’s Warehouse come to fruition then the people living and working in the building would be similarly disadvantaged.  They would lack a direct way into town.  Instead, they would be obliged to take a circuitous route either via Fitzwilliam Street or via Brunswick Street, away from town, emerging at the top end of New North Parade.

Anyone living in Huddersfield over the past 40 or 50 years will be aware the huge railway warehouse has remained unused for a long time.  Ideas for how it could be brought back into use have come and gone.

At present it’s suggested it would be suitable for mixed-use redevelopment including residential units but one of the difficulties the building has always faced is its relative isolation from the town. 

Although located within the town centre it is land-locked and therefore not really a part of the town.  Providing a direct route through the station or under or over the station would surely help.  And yet there is no mention of this in the new proposals. 

All we are offered is new entrance with ticketed access to the rail platforms. There are precedents on this matter.  For example, both Sheffield and Derby stations offer pedestrian access routes without tickets or barriers.  Of course, the train operators who run those stations opposed the schemes arguing about ‘revenue protection’.   But, in both cases, the local authority prevailed. Why not here in Huddersfield too?  After all, we are serious about wanting to redevelop this area, aren’t we?

Comments from HCS secretary Geoff Hughes and Mike Woodward

Upcoming talks and events

  1. White Rose Forest – evening talk.

Wednesday, February 18, 7pm at Brian Jackson House

Join Huddersfield Civic Society to discover more about what organisations are doing to improve our local environment.

We will be hosting Deb Clarke, Development Manager, from White Rose Forest, one of the largest community forests in England; Jeff Keenlyside, Director, from EPIKS, a team of passionate individuals who coordinate environmental projects in Kirklees; and Adrian Pitts, newly appointed Chair from Natural Kirklees, an umbrella organisation for volunteer green space groups. 

Plans to plant up to 134 million trees over the next 25 years have been outlined as part of a project aiming to transform North and West Yorkshire’s landscape. The long-term tree strategy includes boosting woodland cover from 12% to at least 16.5%

Free to HCS Members. Suggested £5 donation for non-members

  • Shaping Huddersfield’s suburbs – the Arts & Crafts influence 

A Huddersfield Civic Society talk by David Griffiths. Wednesday, March 11, 7pm at Brian Jackson House.

From the 1880s to the 1930s Huddersfield had a strong tradition of domestic architecture rooted in Pennine vernacular styles, documented in David Griffiths’ new book Huddersfield’s Arts & Crafts Houses. 

In this talk he shows how developers, private clients and the Corporation all drew on this tradition in the rapid development of the town’s suburbs during those decades.

Free to HCS Members. Suggested £5 donation for non-members

  • AGM followed by guest speaker Felix Kumi-Ampofo from West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Wednesday, March 25 7pm at Brian Jackson House

Huddersfield Civic Society will be holding its AGM at 6.30pm on Wednesday, March 25  at Brian Jackson House.  There will be a short business session summarising the Society’s progress in 2025 and plans for 2026 followed by brief formalities, including the elections of officers. Full details, including requests for nominations to the Committee, will follow in the next HCS newsletter.  

The AGM will be followed at 7pm by a talk by Felix Kumi-Ampofo, Director of Inclusive Economy, Skills & Culture at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Felix is an engaging speaker.  He will talk about how WYCA is establishing a range of new functions and services across West Yorkshire and how these will affect us in Kirklees.

WYCA already has firm plans for improved transport services across the area but it is also gaining responsibilities in other new areas, as has already happened in Greater Manchester. Come and find out what’s changing and how Huddersfield and Kirklees as a whole will be involved.

Update on current projects and planning applications

  1.  Care Home located in questionable site

Kirkgate Residence, Flats 37-48, Lancaster House, Oldgate, Huddersfield

Despite concerns from Huddersfield Civic Society and West Yorkshire Police, plans for a town centre care home have secured the green light. Last year, plans to transform part of a block of student flats at Lancaster House, Oldgate, just opposite the Kingsgate Centre car park, into eight one-bedroom flats/maisonettes were submitted to Kirklees Council.

During the planning process three objections were made, including one from Huddersfield Civic Society and another from West Yorkshire Police. The Civic Society claimed that the building would fail to meet the requirements for a care home under the plans. West Yorkshire Police urged the council to refuse permission and said that the “particulars of the location and the building are incompatible with the proposed new use.” A lack of amenities, access and potential noise nuisance were also raised as issues.

Another objector described the plans as “pretty grim” and said: “This application is proposing tiny flats with very limited space. The only people who would opt to live in such conditions are penniless and desperate. Their quality of life would be very poor. The application should be rejected. We want decent quality housing in the town centre.”

  •  Town centre Payphones

A number of separate applications were submitted to Kirklees Council at the end of 2025 to install digital payphones.  They would be strategically placed and illuminated with adverts.  Each would also contain a defibrillator. People without a mobile phone would be able to make emergency phone calls.

The plans failed to gain planning permission: “The proposed digital communications kiosk and defibrillator, due to its scale, prominent location and illuminated displays, would constitute a visually incongruous and intrusive feature. It would harm the significance of the Huddersfield Town Centre Conservation Area which includes several nearby listed buildings. The limited public benefits associated with the development do not outweigh the less-than-substantial harm to the heritage assets. Furthermore, the proposal would introduce additional illuminated street furniture, contributing to visual clutter and detracting from the character and appearance of the wider town centre. “

HCS have long struggled with the abundance of large illuminated signage within our town centre conservation area.

Northern Powerhouse rail announcement

Regional leaders have welcomed a major rail project in the north of England with the first improvements due to be made in Yorkshire.  The long-promised Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) scheme will see £45bn of upgrades with the first phase likely to see lines electrified and the construction of a new station in Bradford.  The final stage, which is not likely to be delivered until the 2040s, would see construction of a new railway line between Bradford and Huddersfield.  It aims to link Bradford with Manchester stations via Huddersfield and faster rail services.

Membership Reminder

For those who haven’t yet paid, please check your inbox, spam and junk folder for this email and help to make this busy period for your Membership Officer and Treasurer run smoothly by renewing your membership in a timely manner and following the instructions we have in the email.

Many thanks for your continued support.        

Howard Smith – HCS Membership Officer

Dates to put in the diary

All at the Brian Jackson House, New North Parade, Huddersfield, HD1 5JP

  • Wednesday, February 18 at 7pm.  A talk on environmental projects including The White Rose Forest Project, EPIKS and Natural Kirklees    
  • Wednesday, March 11 at 7pm.  Shaping Huddersfield’s Suburbs.  The Arts & Crafts Influence.  A talk by David Griffiths, author of the recently published Huddersfield Arts & Crats Houses.
  • Wednesday, March 25 at 6.30pm.  Huddersfield Civic Society AGM followed by a talk from Felix Kumi-Ampofo of WYCA at 7pm

Plus

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Newsletter content prepared by Huddersfield Civic Society Committee Members.

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