THE new leaders of Kirklees Council are surely right in describing the proposed £200m Queensgate Revival scheme as hugely exciting.
There is much here to be looked forward to, much also that will need careful mulling over. Certainly the entire project is very big, too big for all the implications to be taken in at first glance - even dwarfing the £175m Waterfront Quarter scheme for the Manchester Road area of town.
Predictably, as always we can be sure that the first reactions will be mixed. Those for whom any spending is anathema will achieve here an apoplexy that perhaps eluded them over the recent St George's Square proposals.
Others who prefer to meet the future head-on will find some ideas agreeable, some not so good.
What can be said is that this is just about the worst time possible to launch yet another public consultation exercise - when local people are already sated with questions over St George's Square and further back over the library/Piazza/market hall question, while the "consultation" over the switch of NHS services to Halifax leaves a very bad taste in the mouth that just won't go away.
One thing is for sure, as Clr Ken Sims, cabinet member for regeneration, says: "There is immense interest from developers. Huddersfield is a town in which they want to invest."
And we wonder if that will heighten or quieten present fears in the town that once bought itself and now must wonder if that effort was worthwhile.
We are interested to see the prospect of a net parking gain after the demolition of the Queensgate multi-storey park and the introduction of parking underneath the Market Hall.
It's good to meet up with old friends like the footbridge over the Queensgate ring road, we feel sure others will have lots to say about a new library/art gallery on the corner of Ramsden Street and Peel Street (presumably breaking into shopping space) while shops, a health club and leisure facilities move into the old library.
We are a little apprehensive about the feasibility of a 100-bed hotel on the upper floors of the old Co-op building on New Street, immediately above the shop.
All in all, there is a great deal still to be decided here.
