Web Forum: Four-sight

Nov 12 2009 by Andrew Jackson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IN AN attempt to “get trendy” new plans have been announced for the town centre. Sensing another possible St George’s Square debacle our Forum users let rip.

Mowdiwarp had a suggestion: “Town First are proposing that the Huddersfield town centre is split into quarters to ‘regenerate’ it.

“How about Water Quarter for the square. Turbine Quarter for the High Street end of town, Diminished Retail Quarter for New Street and a Supermarket Quarter to be designated when Tesco/Asda etc have decided which plot they want?”

markmyword49 had plenty to say: “At the Colne Valley Area Committee meeting last Thursday mention was made of the latest consultation.

“How many more consultations, and at what cost, are the council going to run? Will what the public want make the slightest difference when interest groups like Town First, Huddersfield Pride, the Civic Trust etc have the ‘ear’ of both local and central government? Will the elected councillors once again rubber stamp a proposal that the electors don’t want?

“An employee of the Highways department stated there are 68 ‘commercial’ hubs within Kirklees. Don’t they deserve some of the largesse? What is the point of regenerating the centre of Huddersfield when, as Councillor Ridgeway pointed out, there are problems of access by both car and public transport along the major arterial routes into Huddersfield? Will there be money to sort out Longroyd Bridge and other bottlenecks? “Will the train lines get electrified?

“I would have thought that improving the access would have had a ‘knock-on’ effect of making shopping in Huddersfield more desirable. That would then lead to retailers wanting to, once again, have a presence in Huddersfield.”

GVDE2009 asked: “Do individuals who are not in any focus group actually bother to turn up to these meetings? If the people wanted the town to be quartered, they would have demanded it and their demands would have been publicised.

“The council should gather feedback from people, not focus groups. The council’s only involvement with focus groups should be in funding activities and services they provide to their target demographic.”