Council bosses have revealed that they don’t own commercial space of sufficient size in Huddersfield town centre to be able to relocate big-name retailers when the piazza shopping centre is closed.
The clock is ticking on much-trumpeted changes to the town centre as Kirklees Council ploughs ahead with its £210m “cultural heart” project, which is the core of the broader £250m Huddersfield Blueprint.
The authority intends to bulldoze the 1970s piazza and the nearby building that houses Boots to create a town park and make room for a new art gallery. That means Boots and other brand names will have to relocate, or quit the town centre altogether.
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Green councillor Andrew Cooper, whose Newsome ward includes the town centre, asked what the council had done “ensure that stores such as Boots and WH Smith remain in Huddersfield town centre following the loss of their premises.”
In response Coun Graham Turner (Lab, Golcar) said the council recognised the importance to the town of such retailers and that, since 2019 when the blueprint project was revealed, it had had “a constructive dialogue” with a number of major retailers in the town centre, including “an open line of communication” with Boots’ and WHSmith’s property departments.
He added: “We also recognise the importance of certainty around our plans. That is why we continue to give all affected retailers accurate timescales, as much notice as possible, and provide the statutory compensation that the retailers are due.
“Whilst the council do not have any alternative property to relocate these companies [in] to due to the size of their requirements, there are however other potential spaces in the town, which are in private ownership. Any negotiations between retailers and private landlords are commercially sensitive to them.”
Coun Cooper described the council’s response as “disappointing” and said the time had come to create a “town centre board”, as there is in Dewsbury, to oversee improvements in Huddersfield.
He said: “The council don’t demonstrate that they gave any forethought to the possibility that we could lose major national retailers to the town. Providing retailers with compensation will not compensate local people for the loss of Boots or WH Smiths. It would be tragic indeed if in trying to improve Huddersfield that the council removed some of the anchor retailers that draw people to the town centre.
He added: “I am not convinced from the council’s statement that they are actively facilitating conversations with private landlords to keep these stores in Huddersfield. It is almost like they don’t recognise their importance to the viability of the town centre.
“We desperately need a Huddersfield Town Centre Board with a wide range of councillors across party, business organisations and interested bodies like Huddersfield Civic Society. Dewsbury has a Town Centre Board overseeing its improvements, why not Huddersfield?”
The closure of Boots and WH Smith on the piazza will follow the impending departure of House of Fraser from the Kingsgate Centre. The anchor department store shuts its doors on August 28. The site is to be used for a new multiplex cinema to be run by The Light.
Marks and Spencer closed its Huddersfield store in May 2019 after more than 80 years in the town. The branch was one of 17 closed by the company. The shop on New Street is now a B&M store.
