Dewsbury market plans approved

The West Yorkshire town’s plans to improve its market, park, and surrounding streets have been given the nod, following an application lodged last September.

Kirklees Council worked with architect Building Design Partnership and the Dewsbury Town Board on the designs, which aim to have a more varied day-to-night offering and more areas for socialising.

The linked market and town park projects are both elements of the Dewsbury Blueprint, the format under which the council is looking to improve towns across the borough.

Town park

The park will be the largest green space in the town centre, with dedicated play areas and water features.

The town park is intended to “transition smoothly into the market’s outdoor offering” – with an outdoor food and drink offering, and demountable stalls to allow for both an outdoor market area and a flexible event space.

This will then transition into the indoor market, which will also have increased flexibility, while retaining its structure and character.

Dewsbury Market

The overall goal is to create a more varied, day-to-night offering on top of the traditional market offer.

Kirklees signed off £8.3m for the market project in March 2021, with a further £6.6m being levered in through the Towns Fund later that year, enabling the £15m scheme to move ahead.

Foundry Street and Dewsbury Arcade

The area surrounding the connected park and market will also benefit, with Foundry Street in particular earmarked for greening, and to become more pedestrian-friendly.

Neighbouring Dewsbury Arcade is set to reopen next year, around the same time work on the market and park is due to begin. The whole space – which, once completed, will also greatly increase the number of trees in the town centre, said the council – will be visible from the ring road, creating an improved visual impression.

Cllr Graham Turner said: “Once we unveiled our updated plans for Dewsbury Market, the adjoining park was very much the missing piece.”