AMBITIOUS plans to revive a large area just outside Huddersfield town centre have been welcomed by the town's major business groups.
The Waterfront Quarter is billed as the town's biggest regeneration project.
The £200m scheme - unveiled to Kirklees councillors this week - calls for offices, flats and shops to be built on a triangle of land bordered by Chapel Hill, Manchester Road and the River Colne.
Most of the site is occupied by Sellers Engineering and Kirklees Council buildings.
Janet Donald, policy and representation manager for the Aspley- based Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said: "The development will be a good thing. It would attract new businesses to the town and contribute to livening up the town centre.
"It would also improve the visual impact of the Chapel Hill area, which has been a bit dowdy for many years."
She said Huddersfield was short of top-quality office space, adding: "It would be nice to see an office development of the kind which has proved so popular in Leeds."
But she said: "The one major proviso as far as the chamber is concerned would be that there should be adequate parking."
Tony Coletta, who chairs Huddersfield Town Centre Association's development group, called the proposal "significant and exciting".
He added: "This is a prime site.
Large-scale development of this type will improve the viability and vitality of the town and encourage further investment in the town.
"The scheme complements other projects completed along the canal and riverside, such as the Melting Point residential development.
"It is helping Huddersfield to become one of the most important centres of commercial growth across the trans-Pennine area."
