Decision details

Simon Taylor, Head of Town Centres Programme, provided the Panel with an update on the Batley levelling up scheme, which forms part of the wider Batley local centres programme. 

In summary, the Panel was advised that Batley is the biggest investment in the smaller local centres, and, by way of a reminder, there has been a successful outcome to the LUF2 bid, and since then work has been undertaken with Deluc to agree the terms of that award.  An external project management team, Turner and Townsend, has been appointed, and they came on board in June 2023.  There are many projects across the council, and there was a need to bring in specialised people to assist with the project in Batley.

They were asked to undertake a review the cost of that scheme to ensure that it was within budget.  The reason for the review, was that between submission and the announcement, there was a long delay, and during that time there has been a fluctuation in interest rates.  It is therefore important to understand exactly what can be afforded from that award.  Whilst the award has not changed in its number, the costs that go into the scheme has.  That exercise has now been completed, and at this stage, the money that has been awarded and put to one side from the Council is sufficient to deliver each of the four elements, however, this will be kept under review while going through the design phases.

It is currently at reba stage two, and there is a cost assigned to that, and each stage costs will be reviewed, and recommendations will be made to the board about how to deliver elements of the scheme be it through value engineering or pausing or doing something slightly different.

A review of the programme has also been undertaken, and importantly, some of the time has been filled with surveys that needed to be done, for example, surveys around 39 Commercial Street in Batley, and all the condition surveys have been completed.

There are four elements to Batley:

Tesco Link - the link between Commercial Street and Tesco, which is effectively trying to bridge the gap between the large supermarket to allow people to move more freely between the supermarket and the main part of the town.

Commercial Street - is an upgrade of the main St in Batley.  It is very much as streetscape project, however, one of the key objectives, is to make it much more pedestrian friendly, particularly as the feedback received is that there is a lot of anti-social driving behaviour, people parking where they should not be parking and speeding through the town.

Market Place -  upgrading Market Place, which is the area outside of the town hall, which is approximately 30 to 40 years old,  and therefore needs an uplift with the aim to make more of a usable space for events and markets.

39 Commercial Street – the largest building on Commercial Street which is owned by the Council. The aim is to repair that, bringing it up to a white box standard so that it can be marketed for new use.

The Panel was given an overview of the programme to date, which is part of the early review.  Commercial Street and Market Place will be running at a similar time,  going through and looking at options between now and the end of the year, that needs to be undertaken to fulfil the business plan requirements with Deluc. 

The expectation is that there will be some stakeholder engagement later this year.  From that process, the intention is to start to develop detailed designs, which means taking it past the stage that it is at the moment,  and embedded within that is another round of public consultation.   With regard to construction, the aim is to be on site by September 2025 through to March 2026, a 6 month program.

The programme is constantly being kept under review, and there are discussions with colleagues in government about the program, and where there might be some slippage.

The Tesco Link falls slightly alongside that, with the designs being developed later next year.   There will need to be re-engagement with Tesco regarding land acquisition which will happen later this year.  There will also be public consultation, planning application sometime later next year.   Construction is expected towards the back end of 2025.

With regard to Commercial Street, a few surveys are being undertaken, in addition to dealing with internal matters to do with the asbestos and condition.  A scope of works is being developed, which will give a clear idea of what can be afforded with the money available.  From March 2024, the aim is to start the repairs and bring the building up to the required standard to market it.

That is currently the Batley levelling up program, and there is a full team in place, moving through the processes, engaging with Deluc.  There will be engagement with stakeholders, consulting those when past the detailed design stage.

In response to the information presented, the Panel made comment and asked questions including some of the following:

-          It is positive that Kirklees is able to continue to invest in the towns, even if there might be some phasing issues. Local residents need this kind of aspirational project and the jobs and economic development that it will result in, is positive and very much needed

-          From the photographs, it is clear that there will be some landscaping which is welcomed, however it is important to give thought to the long term maintenance of that landscaping.  For example, maintenance appears to have been missed on the Leeds Rd corridor, where there has been some planting in the central reservation which has developed moss, and litter, and the cleansing team, say they are unable to remove it because it is in the middle of the road, and they would need to put traffic management in place

RESOLVED:

That Simon Taylor be thanked for providing an update on the Kirklees wide town centres and small centres programme.