COUNCILLORS will hold secret talks on the proposed Huddersfield Sports Centre tonight – amid fears it may never be built.

Kirklees Council’s Cabinet will receive a private update this evening about the plan to build a £35m state-of-the-art site in Springwood.

Tesco wants to demolish the existing centre at Southgate to make way for a huge new supermarket.

The retail giant has promised to help fund a replacement sports centre on the site of Spring Grove Car Park.

Kirklees won permission to build the new sports centre in November, 2010, while Tesco got the green light to develop the Southgate site three months later.

But the major town centre shake-up was thrown into doubt when Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman persuaded the Government to intervene.

The Labour man – who is worried about the impact of a new Tesco on town centre businesses – convinced the Planning Inspectorate to investigate the Tesco proposal.

Mr Sheerman, Kirklees planners and representatives of Tesco gave evidence at the inquiry, which took place at the Hudawi Centre in early November.

Planning Inspectorate spokeswoman Sian Evans this week revealed that the Government would reveal its verdict on Tesco’s Southgate proposal by February 16, 2012.

And the council’s Labour Cabinet will discuss the sports centre plan at tonight’s meeting, which begins at 5pm at Huddersfield Town Hall.

A council spokesman said: “The report is an update for Cabinet members to make some decisions on timescales and procurement issues, and contains information that is commercially sensitive.”

Meanwhile, Kirklees has admitted that the new sports centre could be shelved if Tesco loses its fight to build a new supermarket at Southgate.

A spokesman said: “The council’s agreement with Tesco for the sale of land at Southgate is conditional.

“The capital receipt gained by the council from this sale would help to fund a new sports centre in Huddersfield.

“However, if Tesco do not receive permission for a new store on Southgate, the land sale will not go ahead.”

The spokesman once again refused to reveal how much Tesco plans to contribute to the new sports centre.

“We are unable to provide this information due to commercial sensitivity,” he said.

KIRKLEES plans to build a £35m sports centre, including a leisure pool complete with wave machine, flume and sidewinder; a teaching pool; two large sports halls, a squash court, a fitness suite and a climbing wall.

The development at Spring Grove Car Park would include improved lighting to a pedestrian subway linking the site with Huddersfield Bus Station.

The new sports centre would have 124 parking spaces, compared with 443 in the current Spring Grove Car Park.

Tesco plans to demolish the sports centre at Southgate, along with the Ibbotson and Lonsbrough Flats, to make way for a new 24-hour store.

The supermarket would have 4,585sqm of food space, 2,275sqm of non-food space, a six-aisle petrol station and 746 parking spaces.

The development would create 300 jobs.

If both plans go ahead, Tesco would then demolish its town centre store on Viaduct Street.

The company plans to replace the supermarket with housing, offices, shops and a hotel.

Tesco is yet to apply for planning permission for the Viaduct Street development, which could be completed by 2016 at the earliest.