ONE of the guardians of our architectural heritage has today highlighted some of the main eyesores around Huddersfield town centre.

It makes grim reading – especially as many of these buildings which are now falling into disrepair and, in some cases, ruin were some of the finest ever built in the town.

Chris Marsden, chairman of Huddersfield Civic Society, takes the somewhat depressing view that it is hard to see this decay and dereliction being tackled in the short term.

Some are owned by Kirklees Council and it’s understandable that there is no money in the coffers to start to tackle such huge renovation projects.

It will be down to private investors and there needs to be sufficient incentives to attract them into our town centre and into old buildings in such dire need of repair. Failing that, the future for Huddersfield looks depressing.

We appear to be heading from being “the handsomest by far of all the factory towns’’ into one of the ugliest.

Surrounding cities such as Leeds and Sheffield have powered forward with striking, modern designs which have changed their skylines forever.

Is this what Huddersfield needs now?