When looking at West Yorkshire it is usually the largest cities of Leeds and Bradford which receive most attention for regeneration and development. However, the three other large centres of Halifax, Huddersfield and Wakefield have some significant plans in hand, and we will look at what they are doing here.

Something to bear in mind is that West Yorkshire is covered by five separate metropolitan authorities – Calderdale (Halifax), Bradford, Kirklees (Huddersfield) Leeds and Wakefield. This has made co-ordination of development, regeneration, planning and infrastructure difficult in the past.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) set up in 2014 and currently headed by elected mayor and chair Tracey Brabin was designed partly to address this issue. It has powers in relation to transport, economic development, skills, training and housing. Recently it has set up the Weaver Network to ‘join up’ buses, trains, walking and cycling across the county and plans to bring bus services under public control during 2027.

April’s local government elections saw some major changes in political control here. Labour lost control of all West Yorkshire’s local authorities. Calderdale and Wakefield now have majority Reform UK councils while in Bradford, Kirklees and Leeds no party has overall control. It remains to be seen what impact this might have on development and regeneration.

Halifax
Traditionally a woollen manufacturing town, light manufacturing and engineering remains important to the economy. Financial services are also important with Lloyds Banking Group (and formerly Halifax Building Society) being the largest private sector employer.