Town Centres Team – Planning ServicesHUDDERSFIELD TOWN CENTREANNUAL STATEMENT OF KEY ECONOMIC INDICATORSNOVEMBER 2000IntroductionWhilst there has only been a small decline in totalretail floorspace in Huddersfield town centre over theSince 1996, Planning Services of Kirklees M.C. has last 12 months, there has been a number of changescarried out a series of town centre audits to monitor in the nature of occupancy. These include thethe health and performance of shopping centres in the opening of a new Lidl foodstore on Castlegate (a unitDistrict. The time series data enables the role of previously occupied by Comet) which has been theindividual town centres to be assessed, identifying the principal contributor to an increase in conveniencescope for change, renewal and diversification. goods floorspace. Conversely, there has been an8.8% loss of comparison goods floorspace largelyThe first full audit for Huddersfield town centre was through further demolition within the footprint of thepublished in July 1996. Since that date, audit reports Kingsgate scheme (a precursor to construction workhave been produced on an annual basis. Thiswhich is now underway), and changes of use fromthstatement represents the 5 that has been prepared retail/quasi-retail/vacant into non-traditional servicefor Huddersfield town centre. uses such as general offices and miscellaneous uses.A significant rise in vacancy has also been recordedThe indicators of town centre health ...