The £100m Huddersfield scheme that never came to fruition

A £100m Huddersfield scheme that should have been finished three years ago is yet to see a spade in the ground, leading some to question the ambition for this mammoth project.

The HD One scheme was first unveiled in 2008. It would see a snow sports centre, Radisson hotel and restaurants brought to the site that sits alongside the John Smith’s Stadium. However, it’s all gone quiet.

In June 2017, HD One’s official website posted that preparation works were expected to “start straight away.” The post also stated that the scheme would be open in late 2020 with elements like additional car parking and the hotel opening before the completion date.

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It was around the same time in 2017 that Kirklees Stadium Development Ltd (KSDL) signed a joint venture agreement with a developer to form a new company – HD One Kirklees Ltd – to deliver the project.

Two years later in April 2019, Yorkshire Live reported that HD One Chief Gareth Davies had broken the silence on the seemingly stalled plans. He assured the public that whilst the project had been delayed due to the national economy, HD One hadn’t gone away and that he was hopeful a planning application would be submitted in the very near future.

However, this is yet to happen, with plans now appearing to be no further along and Covid-19 throwing another spanner in the works. Very little has been said about the plans recently, though a question was raised by Cllr Adam Gregg (Con, Lindley) at a council meeting in November.

The councillor asked whether the HD One project was going ahead and what the ambition was for it. Unfortunately, the councillor failed to get an answer to his question, with the Leader of the Council, Cllr Shabir Pandor explaining that it was not a council project.

After the meeting, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) contacted Mr Davies for clarification but received no response.

More recently, it has come to light that KSDL has fallen on hard times financially. Late last year, YorkshireLive reported that the organisation was at risk of going into administration and had debts running into the millions. Whether this has impacted the progress of the HD One project is yet to be confirmed.

Kirklees Council declined to comment on the future of the scheme, giving the reason that it wasn’t one of the council’s projects. The LDRS also contacted Mr Davies who didn’t respond.