Council to apply pressure to get 'Hepworth' site

Date: 05/08/05
Source: Yorkshire Evening Post
Author: Alan York

VITAL land needed for Wakefield’s new art gallery may have to be acquired using compulsory purchase powers.

The £20m gallery, to be known as The Hepworth, Wakefield, is to be built on land next to the River Calder near Chantry Bridge, known as the Headland.

It forms the flagship building of the long-awaited £100m Waterfront Project and will show the 30 works by renowned Wakefield-born sculptor Barbara Hepworth donated by the Hepworth Trustees, which have not previously been displayed, along with the city’s own collections of fine and decorative art currently housed in the Wakefield Art Gallery in Wentworth Terrace.

It is scheduled to be completed in 2008. But Wakefield Council’s Cabinet has been told that some of the land on the Headland, which includes small scale industrial units, is still not in the council’s ownership and time is running out.

Efforts

A report to the Cabinet said: "The council is negotiating with landowners and tenants to assemble the land required for the scheme. Whilst some of the land required is under the control of the council, there are other interests that must be acquired."

The use of compulsory purchase powers, if necessary, was endorsed by the council in September 2003.

The latest report says that efforts will continue to be made to acquire the land by mutual negotiation, but it was now considered necessary to start the preparation of a compulsory purchase order to ensure that the art gallery scheme can be implemented on schedule.

The Cabinet has now authorised preparation of an order to be submitted to the Secretary of State for confirmation "to ensure the successful delivery of The Hepworth Wakefield".

Today a council spokesman said: "We are still trying to acquire the land by negotiation."

The Hepworth, whose design by David Chipperfield Architects has been described by the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment as "both striking and beautiful", will be a landmark building for Wakefield.

It will be the focal point of the Waterfront development which is expected to create around 1,500 jobs. Apart from the Hepworth there will be shops, bars, offices, leisure buildings, homes and a hotel.