No free Sunday parking in town centre revival plan...but new xmas lights on way

Aug 7 2009 by Nick Lavigueur, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

FREE Sunday parking will not be part of the multi-million project to help revive Huddersfield town centre.

But Kirklees Council will spend more than £50,000 on new Christmas lights in a bid to boost the vital Christmas shopping period.

The money will come from an emergency £1.5m recession budget to help boost trade over the next three years.

Earlier this week Huddersfield Chamber of Commerce hit out at the lack of support for shopkeepers and said the retail heart of Huddersfield was being “ripped out”.

The chamber said new Tesco and Asda megastores would hurt the town centre and backed the idea of free Sunday parking in a bid to lure shoppers back.

But Leader of Kirklees Council, Clr Mehboob Khan, said the free parking idea would not be considered as part of the recession budget as it was too expensive.

He said: “We’re using our recession pot on investments that we know will help on any one of the seven days of the week not just at the weekend.

“People do not choose to shop elsewhere simply because there is not free parking in Huddersfield.

“We need to be talking up the town and its strengths.”

Clr Khan said the three year plan included a range of initiatives to help Huddersfield town centre remain strong and said the council had also secured an additional £2.2m from the government’s Future Jobs Fund.