Kirklees Council has defended the lack of progress on Huddersfield’s long-planned district heat network, insisting the delay is down to financial viability rather than a lack of ambition.
The issue was raised during a meeting of the council’s Environment and Climate Change Scrutiny Panel on Tuesday (August 5), where councillors questioned why the scheme has yet to move forward.
The network was originally intended to use energy from the council’s energy recovery facility at 37 Old Leeds Road to provide heating and hot water to thousands of homes and businesses across Huddersfield.
The project secured an £8 million grant from the Government’s Green Heat Network Fund in 2023, but the network has still not been connected.
Speaking during the meeting, council officer Will Acornley said the plant had yet to be “plugged in”.
Cllr David Ridgway questioned the lack of progress, joking that the council could have “an interesting exchange of views” about heating systems with “the Romans, 2,000 years ago”. Mr Acornley said the project currently did not have a viable business case.
Director for Place David Shepherd stressed that the delay should not be interpreted as a lack of commitment from the council.
“The ambition has been there but finance hasn’t, and also the business case. We haven’t had a district heat network in Huddersfield and Kirklees before,” he said.
“It’s not just the council that would have to link into a heat network to make it viable; it would need a number of other organisations to connect as well.”
Mr Shepherd said fluctuating energy prices had also made the project difficult to justify financially.
“When we’re looking at the cost of heat and how that compares with people buying spot purchases on the energy market, that’s always been the problem for us,” he said.
He added that the council was continuing to explore options but the key question remained whether public money should be used to build and operate the network.
“It’s more around, is there a business case for using public funding to construct and operate a heat network in Huddersfield?” he said.
