Kirklees Council’s Cabinet have just formally accepted funding injections totalling more than £100million for regeneration projects across the borough.
As well as formal acceptance of the funding, the Cabinet discussed how funding will then be drawn down and allocated. Discussions also covered putting the necessary resources in place to support delivery of each of these programmes of work.
The government’s Levelling Up Fund approaches regeneration from multiple angles – an approach echoed by Kirklees Council’s large-scale regeneration projects across local town centres – and the projects which have received funding are very diverse.
The funding allocation includes more than £16.5million for Huddersfield Market, nearly £48million for major improvements to the Penistone railway line, a further £20million towards the Dewsbury Blueprint, and an initial £17million towards development of the West Yorkshire Life Sciences Investment Zone which will focus on the council’s Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor.
For each of these projects, the council submitted a bid for funding to the government’s Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities (DLUHC) which included plans for delivery and details of the benefits for Kirklees’ residents, businesses and environment. So far, DLUHC has announced three rounds of Levelling Up Funding. Further funding has also been allocated to the council’s Batley and Marsden Blueprints.
Now that plans for the progression of each of these projects have been approved, the council will work closely with local businesses and communities, DLUHC and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to facilitate delivery over the coming years.
Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Regeneration, says:
“I’m overjoyed with these proposals, because combined they mean more than £100million of investment in the future of Kirklees.
“We’re talking about a huge range of projects here – large-scale building redevelopments, improvements to public transport infrastructure, investment in local industries… and areas benefitting from this investment stretch right across Kirklees, from north to south and east to west.
“With all the issues faced by local authorities in today’s economic climate, funding injections like this are crucial to keep us moving forward. We’re continuing to put all we can into developing our local town centres, with a similarly wide-ranging and location-specific approach to our investment. This is all about the bigger picture, and about looking past these current difficulties to the future we want for Kirklees – we want to be creating springboards for our local economy, which will mean we’re not just surviving but thriving in years to come. “I see this investment as a massive vote of confidence from the government in Kirklees’ potential for the future.”
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