Barry: St George’s Square fountains are a damp squib

Oct 28 2009 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Then there’s the pink Chinese granite, long since unveiled and long since covered in the oil of a hundred taxis. What possessed the council to break up the square’s beautiful York stone with tonnes of cheap, nasty granite from 5,000 miles away?

Presumably the official responsible was having a Jackson Pollock moment.

St George’s Square, we are led to believe, is to become a public space where thousands can gather for events. If that’s the case then Kirklees should have remodelled the place more drastically because any impression of openness is ruined by the fact that the square remains a transport hub.

A long snake of white taxis sits waiting for fares all day long while two large black bus stops break up the view.

Looking at this redevelopment I felt like putting my head in my hands. Some £4m has been spent and people have endured 18 months of disruption while the work proceeded with all the urgency of a snail on its holidays.

And what do we have to show for it? A square which is not just not better than the old one, but a square which is much worse.

It would have been better if the council had done nothing to the square except send an official to burn £4m of cash on the station steps.

I know I’m getting like an old duffer now, complaining that things were better in the past. But in this case it’s true.

Huddersfield is a beautiful town, with more listed buildings than almost anywhere else in the country.

Yet it would be an even more impressive town were it not for some idiotic planning decisions in the 1960s which have scarred its beautiful facade.

To monstrosities like Oldgate House and the Tech we must now add the redevelopment of St George’s Square.

Well done, Kirklees. You have left your mark.