HUDDERSFIELD would become one of only a handful of places on the planet to have an urban cable car system if radical plans go ahead.

As reported yesterday, the people behind the £100m HD One leisure project hope to install a system to transport passengers between the Galpharm Stadium and Huddersfield Media Centre.

HD One is the plan to turn 51 acres of unused land around the Galpharm into a huge complex including 147 apartments, a 144-bed hotel, an air chimney, a ski slope, a casino, 21 bars and restaurants, a surf simulator, 10-pin bowling alley, two nightclubs, a music venue, offices and a bingo hall.

Building work is due to start in 2012.

If the cable car plan was realised, 16-person gondolas would carry passengers on the half-mile journey between the Media Centre and the stadium.

The system would be similar to those used at mountain ski resorts.

But Laurence Antill, co-leader on HD One, said over-land cable cars were extremely rare.

The metro cable system used in Medellin, Colombia, is the best-known and is shown in the video above.

Mr Antill said: “There has been talk about a cable car linking Gateshead and Newcastle, over the River Tyne, and about linking the O2 arena and Canary Wharf in London over the Thames.

“But at the moment, a cable car in Huddersfield would probably be the first of its kind in the UK.”

Mr Antill revealed outline planning consent had been gained for a cable station at the Galpharm, but permission had not yet been sought for the cable line itself.

He said: “As part of seeking consent, we thought it complicated matters and may have caused a delay to put in an application for a line as well, so we divorced it from the application for HD One.

“But we haven’t forgotten about the proposal – it’s just a matter of when we seek to resurrect it.

“We have things to be getting on with, but it has an awful lot of merit – it’s existing technology, it would get people to and from the stadium and put the town on the map.”

Mr Antill, who also worked on Kingsgate Shopping Centre, said the system would be capable of transporting about 3,000 people each way every hour, with one gondola for every 80 metres of cable and could accommodate disabled people.

He said it was not possible accurately to estimate the cost of a cable car system or to say when the plan might go ahead.

But he added: “We have to have a major transport system between HD One and the town centre.

“There is the potential to divert buses from Leeds Road or to run our own buses, but that wouldn’t have the same attraction.”

Kirklees Council leader Mehboob Khan said the proposal would divide opinion but would be a major talking point.

He said: “Personally, I would be in favour of it. Sixteen years ago Huddersfield was given the wow factor with the Galpharm Stadium. It put the town on the map.

“This would be another thing to promote and market Huddersfield as a fantastic place to visit.”