About — Dewsbury Town Board

FAQs.

The Dewsbury Town Board is a group of mostly volunteer local leaders, businesses, and community representatives working together to support the regeneration and long-term improvements in Dewsbury Town Centre. Government has mandated the board is set up and run by a range of local leaders and community organisation representatives.
The board’s role is to oversee projects that have been approved through Town Deal funding. The Board makes decisions within funding parameters, that align with objectives including economic growth and regeneration and meeting the needs of the community.
The board includes representatives from local businesses, community groups, local government, a local MP, and other key organisations.
The board is funded by grant monies from central government, Council contributions, and private investment that have been approved in the Town Investment Plan.
People who live and work in Dewsbury can get involved through attending public meetings, submit feedback through the website or take part in local consultations, such as the #OurFutureDewsbury engagement. See links below to get involved!
All projects are currently in the delivery phase, and it’s evident in Dewsbury centre (as of Spring 2025) these are happening. Some of these projects will be ongoing for a number of years, and more projects are anticipated to start once the board and government have approved projects from the Plan for Neighbourhoods funding.
No, the board works independently but collaborates closely with the local council and other organisations to deliver projects. The Council is the accountable body with the Town Board being responsible for overseeing project delivery.
Updates will be posted on the website, through social media, and in press releases in local news. You can also sign up for email updates from this website too and follow links to social media channels.
You can get in touch via the contact form on our website or by emailing info@dewsburytownboard.co.uk
A key part of the board work is to listen to public feedback as they too are local people. In addition to consultation feedback, the Town Board website and social media channels, the local people can share their views or submit questions they may have ahead of board meetings that can be answered during Town Board meetings.
Questions that local people have asked in our Town Board meetings are published on our website, as well as resharing them on social media platforms (see links below) to ensure we are transparent about what has been asked to us as board members. We publish details of our board meetings on our channels and is also available on Kirklees Council website. Documentation about where projects are up to are also published in advance of board meetings, so people have time to read and understand where things are up to.

Can Long-Term Plan funding be used to keep open the sports centre?

Dewsbury Town Board recognise the Dewsbury Sports Centre is a priority for the community, however, existing funding secured through the Town Deal, and future funding that may become available through the Long-term Plan cannot be used to fund the re-opening and ongoing costs of the sports centre as Government funding rules don’t allow this.

The Town Board will remain focused on the delivery on committed projects to support regeneration, and on a programme of interventions to be brought forward through the Long-term Plan to support economic growth. As part of the Long-term Plan, we will continue to engage and collaborate with the Council to see how we can support any longer-term ambitions for a future site for a pool or leisure facility.

What is the geographic boundary the Dewsbury Town Board are responsible for and is the Sport Centre within this?

The boundary for the Town Board was set by Central Government as the Office for National Statistics ONS Built Up Area, this is the area shown in black to the left.

In developing the Town Investment Plan it was agreed that the primary focus of investment activities should be the town centre (shown left in red), to help aid increasing footfall and economic growth as outcomes from targeting some of this investment.

Dewsbury Town Board members agreed, with advice from Government officials, that any future funding should focus on the town centre to ensure future investment builds on and aligns with existing regeneration plans and priorities. 

What is the ability to move funding between Town Deal Projects?

Town Fund grant funding can be moved between the already approved Town Deal projects, subject to a Project Adjustment Request (PAR) being approved by Government. This funding cannot be moved from an approved Town Deal project to something new, such as Dewsbury Sports Centre. 

Any changes to the programme are dealt with through a PAR process, which offers some flexibility for places to amend their projects. With projects all now in delivery, PARs should focus on securing the viability of existing projects and ensuring that interventions are deliverable, good value for money and continue to have a strong strategic fit with the original Town Investment Plan.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) guidance notes that Town Boards have the delegated authority to move 30% of spend across financial years. The guidance also offers boards the opportunity to reallocate up to 30% of project funding to another project within the specific Towns Fund Programme provided: 

the change does not exceed 30% of the source project value.  (Town Deal Grant element for scheme) .

the projects remain good value for money as per the requirements of each fund.
outputs, outcomes and spend timetable do not move or reduce by more than 30%.

How were the Town Deal projects identified?

The previous government allocated billions of funding to specific towns throughout the UK which were identified as needing improvement, with Dewsbury being earmarked for this.

A visual summary is below to highlight the timeline and process of the selection process.

Public consultation by Kirklees Council as part of the Dewsbury Blueprint was undertaken and a contractor was appointed to develop a Town Investment Plan.

Avison Young were appointed as contractors to help support through preparing and developing the Town Investment Plan. Social Communications were subsequently appointed to undertake engagement with communities to understand priorities that will help shape improvements needed in 5process, a selection process was undertaken from a long list of ideas and shortened based on government criteria and technical guidance.

Finally, the Town Board approved the projects, which are now in the delivery phase of the Blueprint.