Investing in our places
Overview
Kirklees is a diverse mix of larger towns and smaller towns and villages, set against the incredible backdrop of the Pennines and Yorkshire Dales and benefitting from the exceptional connectivity afforded by the motorway network and the most important east-west rail link in the North of England. Together these attributes make Kirklees a highly competitive location for investment.
We know that place does matter when it comes to the investment decisions made by businesses and skilled, mobile workers. At the same time, we need to rethink the future role of our urban centres and some of the adjoining towns and villages; as their traditional shopping role changes, they will need to become mixed use, multi-functional places with leisure, cultural, housing and community uses to the fore.
Some of this change was accelerated by the pandemic - with places like Holmfirth and Marsden attracting more visitors and investment, driven by increased homeworking. Improved connectivity with Leeds and Manchester can strengthen the residential role of some communities, including places like Dewsbury and Batley.
Our visitor economy - underpinned by our cultural offer and heritage and beautiful landscapes - remains relatively untapped compared with other locations in West and North Yorkshire and there is a significant opportunity to unlock its potential.
Success measures
- 1. Percentage of residents who are satisfied with their local area
- 2. High street vacancy rates
- 3. Retail/commercial rental levels
- 4. Housing affordability index
- 5. Number of neighbourhoods in 20% most deprived in England
Actions
The Council is leading the delivery of a series of major capital projects that, when realised, will change resident, visitor and investor perceptions of our major centres.
In Huddersfield, this activity is focusing on the Our Cultural Heart project that will transform the town's cultural offer; the reopening of the George Hotel; revitalising the Huddersfield Open Market; and the Station to Stadium Corridor.
In Dewsbury, the Towns Fund programme will deliver the refurbishment of the iconic Dewsbury Arcade and Dewsbury Market. Investment is also underway in Batley, Cleckheaton, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth and Marsden.
Delivering improvements to our principal town centres will create places our residents want to spend time in and where businesses are proud to be based. Public investment will attract private investment, so we bring our vision into being in partnership.
Our town centre plans include increasing infrastructure for walking and cycling and creating town centre living supporting more sustainable lifestyles. In addition, increasing the quality of the local offer will reduce the need for travel to more distant centres, providing more services close to home.
All of our places merit investment and need to develop to support affordable living in order that they are viable places to live for those on lower incomes. Our development plans include improvements to active travel infrastructure and will support public transport improvements.
Our plans for our town centres seek to break down barriers, making them places all our different communities can enjoy and feel comfortable in. This will support every individual being able to thrive.
Strengthening the night-time economy in all our centres with a focus on Huddersfield and Dewsbury is part of our vision for modern centres.
To do so we must work with evening economy venues, the Police and other agencies to significantly improve community safety and tackle negative perceptions of our places.
The culture and leisure sectors form an important part of our economy in their own right while a thriving cultural life is important to the attractiveness of our place for those considering living or starting a business in Kirklees.
Developing a sustainable night-time economy will be an important consideration for the partnership. Direct impacts such as energy efficiency and waste management but also sustainable transport and noise pollution management will be integrated.
The culture and leisure sectors are a major source of entry level jobs providing routes into employment particularly for young people. Our cultural offer will continue to build on and celebrate our diversity.
Nationally and locally we have challenges around accelerating housebuilding. Meeting the housing needs of our population is important so families have the foundations on which to thrive. We also need to significantly increase the delivery of affordable homes.
We will deliver our Housing Growth Strategy to meet rising need and improve the quality of our stock. This includes projects on large sites such as Chidswell and Dewsbury Riverside, town centre living in Huddersfield and Dewsbury, and working with mid-size SME developers to diversify the range of providers delivering new homes.
Through the update of the Local Plan we will identify a range of new housing sites to meet future needs in line with the latest government guidance and evidence from the Council's updated Strategic Housing Market Assessment. This will include exploring development opportunities associated with the proposed Mass Transit line between Leeds and Dewsbury subject to agreement at full council in September.
High-quality housing underpins good health and wellbeing, and residents' ability to go out to work and study. An attractive housing offer that meets a range of needs also contributes to attracting new people to Kirklees.
Provision of energy efficient homes within neighbourhoods that enable and encourage sustainable lifestyles will reduce energy demand and decrease living costs.
Improving the availability of affordable housing for those wishing to buy or rent is central to our strategy. Increasing supply contributes to stopping our housing affordability ratio rising further from reach.
We have approved a new Transport Strategy in which the TransPennine Rail Upgrade and Penistone Line Upgrade are complemented by development of mass transit for West Yorkshire, shifts to active travel and public transport, seeing improvements to bus services and bus stations, and delivery of key major projects such as the Cooper Bridge Corridor Improvement Scheme to resolve long standing challenges.
Effective transport that connects individuals and businesses to the full breadth of opportunities underpins an effective economy. Our location between three core cities requires top class transport to maximise the possible benefits.
Shifts towards active travel and public transport form an essential part of sustainable lifestyles. By reducing reliance on private cars we will see reduced emissions and improved air quality.
Our strategy will allow all individuals to access the work and training they need to thrive including through low-cost options such as active travel and buses.
We will ensure we support thriving rural areas served by gigabit connectivity and high-quality public transport services.
Supporting a mixed economy including agriculture but also cultural businesses and others taking advantage of high-quality digital connectivity.
Kirklees contains many small rural communities. Each of these has a role to play in the wider productivity of Kirklees. Physical and digital connectivity supports this.
Rural communities are often more car-reliant than urban ones. Providing high quality bus services will reduce this while world class digital connectivity will reduce the need for journeys to the office or to meet with clients in person whether close by or far afield.
While our rural areas are generally more affluent than our major towns, maintaining good connectivity contributes to older people and those with limited mobility being able to take advantage of all Kirklees has to offer.
Kirklees has significant untapped potential as a tourism destination, including part of the Peak District National Park and a diverse mix of urban and rural centres. We will further develop our culture and leisure offer including outdoor activities both enhancing quality of life for residents and attractions for visitors. This will be done through the Local Visitor Economy Partnership and delivery of our Heritage Strategy and Kirklees' strong programme of events and festivals.
Building on our culture and leisure offer - alongside other elements of this strategy - will contribute to attracting people to Kirklees and making it an enjoyable place to live, work and spend time.
The environment is increasingly a focus of and a concern in cultural events and businesses. Kirklees has a strong heritage in practices relevant to growing a more sustainable economy. We will build on this to create a unique offering.
A varied cultural offer will see Kirklees being a place where everyone can participate in and enjoy a range of events. It will provide economic opportunities for all our communities.
A number of large, locally rooted organisations have worked hard over recent years to embed social value (SV) approaches in how they operate - particularly in their procurement, including Kirklees Council.
Moving forward we will continue to adopt a more proactive approach to securing social value benefits from major capital and other projects and share best practice with other partners where we can. We will increasingly adopt a longer-term focus, considering social value opportunities across wider programmes rather than on a project-by-project basis. This will increase the effectiveness of our large, locally rooted organisations at buying locally and delivering social value.
SV allows organisations to maximise the benefits of their own spending power. Using this mechanism to full effect will contribute to other areas of this strategy including the skills development needed for greater productivity.
Environmental impact is one of the key themes considered through SV approaches. In this way we will continue to encourage best in class practice from our suppliers.
We will increasingly target SV benefits towards deprived neighbourhoods to focus the efforts of our suppliers as well as our public providers where there is most need.
Case studies
Kirklees features significantly as part of the £11.5bn TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) with substantial investment in our rail infrastructure. Delivered by Network Rail and the TRU consortium, the game-changing project will bring cleaner, greener and more reliable railways, improving connectivity across towns and villages in Kirklees.
As well as investment in stations across Kirklees, the TRU will see more frequent, and faster trains, cutting down on journey times to cities across the Northern Powerhouse including Manchester, Leeds, York and beyond, creating more opportunities for employment, training and education for people who live and work in Kirklees.
An ambitious centrepiece for Kirklees' largest town, landmark regeneration project Our Cultural Heart will build on and celebrate the character and culture of Huddersfield. The project will deliver a new library; food hall; a repurposed museum/gallery, new venue and events space/public realm.
With a focus on experiences and making the town a more attractive place to live, study, work and visit, in line with today's market demands and the public's changing expectations, it will act as a major catalyst for growth of the local economy.
Sitting right in the middle of some of the North's most powerful cities, Huddersfield benefits from excellent connections attracting visitors from far and wide.
Find out more about what's happening at Our Cultural Heart
Kirklees' most ambitious housing project in living memory, Dewsbury Riverside is crucial to address the need for more quality, affordable housing outside the north's expensive major cities and will be transformative for the local area
Up to 4,000 new homes across multiple new neighbourhoods will be created in phases, each with a unique sense of place and complete with the necessary amenities. TRU investment will help serve the development, supported by additional investment in highway infrastructure.
The scheme is currently going through procurement of a Master Developer and there will continue to be community engagement throughout the project.
