COUNCILLORS will decide next week whether to allow a new town centre development which could endanger the Kingsgate Centre expansion.
Simmy Sekhon has asked Kirklees Council for permission to convert the Palace Theatre, which he owns, into student flats.
But WD Huddersfield already has outline planning permission to demolish the historic building – except the facade – to allow a £40m expansion of the nearby Kingsgate Centre.
In March the council officially backed the Kingsgate 2 plan which would increase the size of the shopping centre by 50%, creating 23 new stores and up to 900 jobs. The council’s Huddersfield Planning Sub-committee had been due to rule on the student flats proposal last month.
But councillors decided to delay the decision to allow highways officers to assess the traffic impact of the proposed development – despite officials advising that this was unnecessary.
Kirklees officers have now assessed the impact of the proposed conversion, which includes building 23 apartments with 87 bedrooms.
There would also be a gym and laundry for students in the basement of the building.
Mr Sekhon also wants to set up a bar and restaurant open to the public.
According to council highways officers the development would “represent a de-intensification of use” compared with the previous nightclub and theatre at the site.
Officials believe the conversion “would not result in any undue highway implications”.
The development of the Palace Theatre would generate between three and nine traffic movements in the morning and evening peak, which officers described as “negligible and indiscernible in normal daily traffic flows”.
The report concludes: “Highways are satisfied that the proposal has been thoroughly and appropriately assessed. It is considered that the proposal is ideally located for its intended use.”
Council officers have recommended that the plan should go ahead.
Two people have written to Kirklees to object to the student flats plan since April’s meeting. They are worried about an increased risk of traffic accidents, large HGVs delivering beer to the bar in the morning, scaffolding during the redevelopment work endangering jobs in the Kingsgate Centre and “chaos” at the end of term as students leave the flats.
The original Palace Theatre, on the corner of Venn Street and Kirkgate, was built in 1909 and hosted top acts, including Harry Houdini. The theatre burned down in 1936 but was rebuilt the following year.
It became the Palace Casino in 1962, Palace Bingo Hall in 1978, Chicago Rock Cafe in 1998 and, finally, the Society nightclub.
