Meeting to share ideas for Dewsbury’s Heritage Lottery Fund revamp

Kirklees Council is still waiting for a decision on the £2m Heritage Lottery Fund bid it made in November.

But Dewsbury Regeneration Board wants to be in a position to act quickly if funding to smarten up the Northgate area is secured.

Chairman Coun Paul Kane (Lab, Dews East) said: “Everybody has got different ideas as to how they would like to see the town go forward.

“I’m happy to listen to people about whichever way they would like to see it go.”

If the bid succeeds, the lottery cash would be added to £2.1m set aside by the council and building owners would be asked to contribute a further £1.5m.

The money would then used to bring Pioneer House and the former Co-op funeral parlour back into use, do up shopfronts and repair run-down buildings in Branch Road, Northgate and the Kingways and Queensway arcades.

On Thursday, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment and social enterprise Integreat Plus will host a design review session. Local councillors, Kirklees officers and members of Dewsbury’s Town Team are among those invited to along share their views.

During the session they will have the chance to talk about how the general appearance could be improved, the future role the area in the town’s development and how particular buildings might look.

Coun Kane said: “It’s mainly a Northgate issue and what we can do there, but it also revolves around the heritage of the town. I’ve always said Dewsbury has some of best architecture in the north of England and I’d like to see this scheme expand on that.”

But he said making the most of the town’s heritage did not mean new buildings or a more modern approach had been ruled out.

“I’ve not got a closed mind about getting new buildings in place,” he said. “The two can complement each other.”

The lottery bid is part of ongoing work by the regeneration board and council to realise the vision for Dewsbury put forward in its Strategic Development Framework.

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