Issue - meetings

The Panel will receive a presentation providing a progress update on Our Cultural Heart.

Contact:  Edward Highfield, Service Director, Skills and Regeneration.  Tel: 01484 221000

Cllr Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance and Regeneration, introduced the item advising the Panel that looking around Huddersfield town centre there is a great deal of work on demolition being undertaken.  Initially the work was inside therefore it was not visible, however it is now possible to physically see boots on the ground working to deliver the vision for Huddersfield.

Edward Highfield, Service Director, Skills and Regeneration, presented an update on the Our Cultural Heart development. Referring to the presentation slides, the Panel was provided with a summary of progress so far, a reminder in terms of the masterplan, an update on the phasing and progress in relation to phases one and two and beyond.

In summary, the Panel was reminded that the Huddersfield Blueprint, was launched in June 2019, with the aim of transforming the town centre.  Cultural Heart is one of the six target areas and is not the entirety of the blueprint, but delivery of the Cultural Heart is the big standout flagship initiative within the blueprint.  The blueprint sits under the priority of the Corporate Plan, to continue to invest in the towns and villages as a recognition of the economic future of Kirklees and the importance of the town centres despite the challenges being faced in local government.  It is therefore important to remain ambitious, and talk about the economy as much as possible and what is going to generate future opportunities for residents and also the tax base of council, to ensure a strong alignment between this agenda and the council’s Corporate Plan.

The Panel was informed that the overall construction budget for Cultural Heart is included within the council's Capital Plan, and while it may seem like a big number, it is over a period of time.  This is not additional funding it is planned into the budget cycle over a long period of time.

In terms of construction, whilst the buildings are important, it is what happens inside the buildings that really matters, that is what people experience and the quality that it needs to offer. As work is being undertaken on the construction side, work is also being undertaken with council services to prepare the pre-opening and the opening and operation of the individual services. 

To give some assurance, there is a Town Centre Operations Management Board, which co-ordinates the integration of the decision making of those individual services in terms of wider governance.  The Cultural Heart project reports to the programme board internally, to an officer led programme board on a monthly basis, and also reports through to Cllr Turner, Portfolio holder for Regeneration.

The Panel was informed that progress is reviewed regularly by Cabinet through the gateway process.  Going through the concept, the outline design, the more detailed design, and actual decision to proceed or not, is a Cabinet decision and this is done on a staged process through what is called gateways.

Phase one,  has been through the contract award, and is on site delivering, and future  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8