PRESSURE GROWING ON KIRKLEES COUNCIL TO RELEASE GASWORKS SITE FOR NEW HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS STADIUM
The Kirklees Council is under increasing pressure to allow the Huddersfield Giants to construct a new stadium on the gasworks site.
Kirklees administration and Giants owner Ken Davy are at odds over the land, which the administration believes is essential to its
strategy for economic development.
The empty lot near Accu Stadium, off St Andrew’s Road, is a crucial component of the council’s Station to Stadium plan.
a health technology and innovation investment zone and the Enterprise Corridor.
Mr. Davy intends to build a new stadium with 8,000 seats somewhere else and wants the Giants to abandon Accu Stadium.
within the town.
He says the only viable site is the former gasworks site, currently used as a temporary car park.
The land is owned by Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd, the company which owns the Accu Stadium, but is due to
be transferred to the council as part of a deal to hand over control of the stadium to Huddersfield Town.
At the Kirklees Council’s full meeting this week at Huddersfield Town Hall, the gasworks site was brought up.
Clr. Cahal Burke, a Lib Dem from Lindley, urged the council to collaborate with the Giants and take the
An alternative could be the gasworks site.
But given the public’s enthusiasm in the Huddersfield Giants owner’s idea, I think we are now
confronting a very real and urgent opportunity.
“It deserves full and open-minded consideration, not a flat dismissal. Will the council take a leadership role in
enabling that dialogue rather than closing the door before the potential has been fully tested?
“This proposal is serious, deliverable and clearly backed by those involved. It is not in competition with health and
innovation. It can complement it.
“A stadium focused on professional sports, community use and wellbeing, can sit side by side with research and
enterprise. This is about synergy, not exclusion.”
According to Clr Burke, moving the Giants would also enable Huddersfield Town to proceed with their ambitions to build the
stadium, the surrounding area, and the larger Huddersfield community.
Almondbury Lib Dem councillor David Longstaff, a Giants supporter, believes that the Accu Stadium is too large for the team’s fan base.
The gathering was informed by a season ticket holder that the advantages of a smaller stadium were obvious.
When the Stereophonics played at Accu Stadium, the Giants faced the Wigan Warriors at the Dewsbury Rams’ field.
The Giants nearly shocked the “best team in Super League” during their June concert.
Clr Longstaff said: “We’re in danger of losing our Super League team at the moment. We badly need this new small
stadium. Let’s assist the Giants to find at home, not hinder them.”
Clr Graham Turner, Cabinet member for finance and regeneration, replied: “Of course, no-one wants to see the
Giants move out of Huddersfield. No-one wants to see them not have a home.
“But they are a business owned by Ken Davy. It’s his responsibility to find the site, and whilst it is his responsibility,
we have been working very hard with Ken to try and find a site.
“I’m not going to go into detail but I can name many, many sites that we’ve looked at, looked at with him, to try and
find a solution.”
According to Clr Turner, Mr. Davy will be attending a crucial meeting of the Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd board on Friday.
was expected to show up. Before that meeting, he couldn’t say anything more.
Meanwhile, Mr. Davy is moving forward with his intentions to purchase Halifax’s The Shay Stadium, which would be a temporary
home for the Giants while Huddersfield was being developed as a new stadium.
However, until he has planning approval for a new location in Huddersfield, he will not relocate the Giants from Accu Stadium.
Although Calderdale Council has consented to sell the stadium to the Shay, it is classified as an Asset of Community Value.
Community organisations had to be given the chance to submit a different bid, Mr. Davy.
The purchase was placed on hold after one group expressed interest, but it has now apparently withdrawn.
But according to a Calderdale Council spokesperson, they haven’t yet gotten official word that the expression
had been withdrawn from interest.
A new pitch has been laid at The Shay and Mr Davy plans to bring the stadium up to Super League standards.
Read more news on https://www.sportupdates.co.uk/
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