Levelling Up: Leader of the council 'disappointed' as government reject £70m investment plans for Kirklees

Four bids were made to the £4.8bn cash pot. Three of which were rejected including plans for Huddersfield Market, the Penistone Line Rail Upgrade and the regeneration of Marsden Mills.

However, Kirklees was successful with its £12m bid to fund the majority of the Batley Blueprint project making it the only council in West Yorkshire to have a successful bid in this round of the Levelling Up process. The plans for Batley will see better access for pedestrians on Commercial Street, a new events space in front of the town hall and an improved link between Tesco and the town centre, amongst other improvements.

The £18m project to restore Huddersfield’s Northumberland Street Market has been shelved. The Grade II listed building would’ve been restored to its former glory and transformed into a food hall with nine stalls and enough space to seat 300 people. The outdoor space near Tesco would have been used as a open market with around 60 stalls.

Penistone railway line would have benefited from improved connections between Huddersfield, Barnsley and Sheffield at the cost of £48m. The final £5.6m bid for Marsden Mills would’ve partially funded the conversion of the space into shops and offices.

Leader of Kirklees Council, Coun Shabir Pandor, said: “We are really pleased that we will be able to kick start the transformation and improvement of Batley town centre on the back of our successful bid.

“The fact that Kirklees was the only council in West Yorkshire to make a successful bid in this round of funding is testament to the quality of the work put in by the council, Batley Councillors, our MP and partner organisations. But it also means there are some legitimate questions for government to answer about how the money has been allocated across the country and the rationale used to prioritise the bids.

“We are, of course, disappointed to have missed out on the other bids in this round such as Penistone Line rail upgrade, Huddersfield Northumberland Street market regeneration project and Marsden Mills renovation scheme. All of them are excellent plans that will bring growth to all parts of Kirklees and a lot of time, effort and resource went into the preparation of the bids. But this result has not lessened our ambition or our optimism.

“Despite the other bids not being successful and the challenges to our budgets we are still committed to protecting the vulnerable, delivering public services and have plans and ambitions to grow our economy and our infrastructure. We now have several fantastic plans that are well thought out and ready to go. We are as determined as ever to get them off the drawing board and into delivery for all our residents.

“I’m still optimistic for the future in Kirklees. We are on your side. We are delivering major regeneration schemes across the district: Our Cultural Heart will transform Huddersfield town centre, the Dewsbury Blueprint is bringing investment into the town and our Blueprints in Batley, Holmfirth, Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike will improve some of our most important centres. All of this adds up to making Kirklees a great place to live, work and visit.”