It’s been another eventful year for Kirklees and we’re looking back at some of the council’s most major decisions of 2024.
Kirklees Council has made some tough choices in light of the financial difficulties that have continued on this year, with the local authority forecasting an £12.8m overspend for 2024/25 back in September. Facilities like Customer Service Centres, Dewsbury Sports Centre and Birstall’s Household Waste Recycling Centre have closed for good, as the local authority has worked to address its financial predicament.
While the cuts cannot be ignored, with it argued by some members that these have disproportionately targeted North Kirklees, positive strides have been made elsewhere as major regeneration projects have moved ahead, with Huddersfield and Dewsbury Blueprints making progress and additional funding agreed for the George Hotel project.
The year has also seen some contentious proposals softened or avoided, with a hugely unpopular plan to roll out fees across Kirklees’ free car parks less severe than initially proposed. Similarly controversial plans to make eight of the borough’s libraries community-run were axed completely.
Below are ten standout decisions made by the council this year.
1.Customer Service Centre closures
The former Huddersfield Customer Service Centre which has now been integrated with the library
(Image: Huddersfield Examiner)
In a bid to save cash this February, Cabinet approved plans to close Customer Service Centres at Huddersfield and Dewsbury and integrate them across the borough’s library network.
The council said its plans would make the services more easily accessible for people, being located at a library closer to home, though some were left concerned that it would see vulnerable people ‘slip through the net’.
The decision also was branded “disastrous” by trade union UNISON which warned the local authority that it would leave vulnerable people and domestic abuse victims with a petition launched in opposition. However, this couldn’t prevent the decision from coming into force.
2.Libraries U-turn
Mirfield Library was one of the eight proposed to become community-run
At the same time changes to Customer Service Centres were agreed, so were the next steps to make eight of Kirklees’ 24 libraries community-run to save £0.9m. This decision proved highly unpopular with the public, not least in Mirfield, where the local Friends of Group were left “staggered” by the plan , fearing it would result in a closure by stealth.
The plans were ultimately axed by the council after consultation showed that communities were “overwhelmingly” against them. Instead, the council is looking to reduce the number of its staff working across all of the libraries, with the eight libraries to remain part of Kirklees Council’s statutory network.
The council says its required saving of £912k can still be achieved through its new approach.
3. New Cultural Heart’s museum and gallery plan
An artist’s impression of Huddersfield’s new Museum and Art Gallery
(Image: Kirklees Council)
Brand new plans for Huddersfield’s museum and art gallery were submitted earlier this year as part of the Cultural Heart scheme. The Grade II Listed former library building at Princess Alexandra Walk will be housing the two facilities, though the original plan would have seen it only as the museum.
Subject to approval, the new facility will be set across six floors, including the basement and roof, boasting museum displays, art exhibitions, indoor and outdoor education space, a café, shop, and changing places facilities. The building’s iconic frontage will undergo some repairs and enhancements, with an extension slightly larger than in the initial plans to the north of the building towards King Street. This will accommodate a new entrance.
The museum and art gallery make up the second phase of the Cultural Heart scheme and are set to open to the public at the beginning of 2029, along with the new public realm.
4.New parking charges rolled out
A free car park direction sign.
In October, plans to raise parking charges in 15 of the borough’s free car parks were given the go-ahead by Cabinet. The decision impacts locations in Batley, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Holmfirth, Marsden, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite, with these car parks being selected as they have over 25 spaces. Users get the first two hours free before the charges kick in.
The council scrapped more severe proposals to roll out charges at every single one of its free carparks across the borough. This received a great deal of backlash from members of the public and councillors alike and was stopped in its tracks when Cllr Carole Pattison came into post as Leader of the Council in July.
Existing fees had already been upped in Huddersfield, Holmfirth and Dewsbury, with this remaining in place.
Meanwhile, plans to increase the cost of residential parking permits from a one-off £15 payment to a £35 annual charge, were approved. Visitor permit charges were also affected, with a £60 yearly fee to be paid, whereas previously, a single permit was free.
Residents described being ‘punished’ by the move around permits, with the council’s approach described as “petty penny-pinching”.
5.Way forward agreed for John Smith’s Stadium
A general view of the John Smith’s Stadium
This year saw a way forward finally agreed for the future of Huddersfield’s John Smith’s Stadium, with Kirklees Council ready to hand its share over to Huddersfield Town in October. The stadium has been managed by Kirklees Stadium Development Limited (KSDL) since it opened in 1993, with shares in the company held by the council (40%), Huddersfield Town (40%) and Huddersfield Giants (20%).
The council wanted to get out of the business side of things and was originally set to divide its shares between the town’s two professional sports clubs. However, the local authority will keep the freehold, retaining ultimate control over the use of the site.
6.Closure of Birstall’s tip
Household Waste and Recycling Centre on Nab Lane, Birstall
To the dismay of the community, Birstall Household Waste Recycling Centre closed its doors for good on Sunday, November 10. The plans took ward members by surprise and ignited a passionate community campaign, with a petition accumulating over 4,000 signatures launched by Cllr Josh Sheard (Con).
The decision was subject to a ‘call in’ by the local Tories where it was subjected to further scrutiny. Here, it emerged that some of the cabinet members who had voted on the council’s Waste Disposal Strategy earlier this year may not have realised this gave officers the authority to decide to close a site and it was recommended that the council “pause” the plans.
However, despite the best efforts of campaigners, the closure went ahead. Changes impacting two of the borough’s other HWRC sites were also decided, with Bromley Farm in Upper Cumberworth now closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and Meltham’s Bent Ley Road closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Through its decisions for tips, the council says it will save nearly £200k over the next two financial years.
7.Closure of Dewsbury Sports Centre
Dewsbury Sports Centre
(Image: Google)
In November, Kirklees Council’s Cabinet agreed to permanently close Dewsbury Sports Centre, which was described as “another act of negligence” by Dewsbury West councillor, Cllr Tanisha Bramwell (Independent). The site initially closed in September 2023 when collapse-prone RAAC was found in part of the premises and never re-opened.
With the recent decision, the council will be demolishing the wet-side of the facility which it owns, and replacing it with a car park or another alternative use. This is expected to come at a cost of around £3.5m. As for the dry-side, the local authority needs to exit a 125-year lease which could also incur a “significant financial cost”.
Six options were on the table for the future of the centre including re-opening the dry-side only, transferring the asset to the community, and rebuilding a brand new facility, with this option estimated to cost up to £34m, but permanent closure was favoured due to a number of constraints and financial pressures.
Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, Cllr Graham Turner, said he ‘hoped’ a new facility could be created at some point in the future, though it was “impossible to predict” when that could be done.
8.More funding for George Hotel project
How the George Hotel could look
(Image: Kirklees Council)
Rubbing salt in the wounds of those who opposed the closure of Dewsbury Sports Centre and cuts to services in North Kirklees was the £10m cash boost agreed for Huddersfield’s George Hotel project. This was agreed at the same meeting as the sports centre closure and prompted a heated debate.
A £20.2m budget was initially allocated for the scheme but this shot up to £30m due to soaring construction costs, findings of asbestos in the basement and the “historical underpinning” of the façade at John William Street. The additional costs will be financed using some of the cash earmarked for the £262m Our Cultural Heart project.
While Radisson is still firmly onboard as the new hotel’s operator, plans for the historic building have changed since they were first released. The number of hotel rooms has been increased from 91 to 108 to generate more income, and the expected price per night stands at £100-£110 per night, rather than the £80-£90 figure previously envisaged.
With these changes in mind, a new planning application will need to be approved and listed building consent secured before spades can go in the ground. Despite these outstanding permissions, the council is hoping that works can begin on site in Summer 2025, with the hotel up and running in Summer 2027.
9.Future of Cleckheaton Town Hall
(Image: Huddersfield Examiner)
When Kirklees Council proposed a community group should take on the running of Cleckheaton Town Hall and its maintenance and repairs, it was accused of ‘setting the community up to fail’ by ward councillors and members of the community. Despite this, the preferred option was taken forward by the Cabinet.
The plans came under fire for all manner of reasons, not least the time scales in the report which expected an expression of interest within a month and a transfer completed within six months. During the meeting, this was picked up by elected members, with Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Finance, Cllr Graham Turner, making it clear that there would be flexibility if a group comes forward with a viable solution. A line was added to the report to this effect.
Another amendment was made during the meeting following on from a point raised by Cllr Kath Pinnock (Cleckheaton, Lib Dems) relating to the already-allocated £1.5m in Towns and Villages funding to Cleckheaton. Councillor Pinnock said that had the town hall been under threat when plans for the spending of the cash were drawn up, ward councillors would’ve agreed that this should have been spent on opening the town hall and carrying out health and safety works while the community consider plans for its future.
Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Cllr Viv Kendrick, wanted to look at this further, with it agreed that this possibility could be explored going forward.
10.Future of dementia care homes
Kirklees care home Claremont House, Heckmondwike
(Image: Google)
Despite masses of backlash and emotive pleas from families with loved ones residing at Castle Grange and Claremont House, Cabinet agreed to push on with its plans to transfer the two homes to the private sector. At the time, five operators were said to be interested in running the homes.
Under the plan, the homes’ 45 residents and staff will continue to reside or work there when the transfer goes ahead. However, families do not believe this to be the best way forward for their relatives, fearing for devastating consequences, with their campaign group continuing to fight on in the hopes of preventing the transfer.
Since the Cabinet meeting, a petition of over 9,000 signatures has been handed in which will trigger a full council debate, and an open letter written to Cabinet from the Community Independents group, calling for immediate action to be taken and an alternative way forward.
If the plans fall through, a further report will be brought to Cabinet.
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