Council to sell supermarket site for college campus

Kirklees Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the sale of the old Safeway supermarket on Bradford Road to Kirklees College at a meeting next week.

A planning application for the new campus has already been granted, and building work could start in January if the deal goes ahead.

Kirklees College has secured £11m in grant funding and a £4m loan to provide new facilities at the former Safeway and at Pioneer House in Dewsbury.

Grant funding for the Dewsbury Education Village scheme came from the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Under the plans, around 1,600 students would be educated at the Bradford Road campus and around 1,000 at Pioneer House.

Students would move from their current campus at the Wheelwright Building on Halifax Road.

Coun Peter McBride, Kirklees Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, said: “The transformation of Dewsbury is not only a priority for the council but it is for the City Region.

“This approval is the first step in delivering the council’s collective commitment to regenerate North Kirklees in partnership with key stakeholders including Kirklees College.”

The former supermarket was bought by Kirklees Council in 2008.

The sale of the site for an undisclosed sum could be approved by the council’s cabinet on Tuesday.

A report to Tuesday’s meeting said Kirklees College had appointed a contractor to carry out building work at the site.

The report said: “The new facility will enhance education provision in North Kirklees and provide a driver for the regeneration of the area.”

Kirklees Council was planning refurbishment works as the landlord of Pioneer House before a further fit-out by the college, which would then occupy the building.

The report added: “The disposal of the land at Bradford Road is an essential element of the overall project and is needed in order to allow the works to start, thus securing a large capital receipt for the council and allowing the wider project to progress and subsequently the LEP grant to be spent.”