Rows over St George’s Square are nothing new!

Jan 2 2009 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Rows over St George’s Square are nothing new!

THERE has been much controversy about the redevelopment of St George’s Square.

Many Huddersfield people have been up in arms about the plans, from moving the Harold Wilson statue to the pink granite paving from China.

But now the regeneration project is taking shape and set to create another new look for the square.

Kirklees Council is spending £4m on the redevelopment.

It included moving the Wilson statue and installing 750 tonnes of the Chinese granite at a cost of £215,000.

But complaints about revamping the square are nothing new.

Back in 1990 a local historian uncovered details of objections to the first suggestions for the square back in 1849.

And it was not created without its share of controversy.

It was suggested at the time that the plot of land in front of the George Hotel “in place of being built on ... should be open and formed into a square”.

The plans were said to be “greatly deficient, in that it provides no open space or square to serve as lungs or breathing space for the inhabitants of the enlarged town”.