The Ridings: Wakefield Council considering buying city shopping centre

The Ridings sits in the heart of Wakefield city centre

A West Yorkshire council is considering investing millions of pounds of public money to buy a shopping centre as part of its city regeneration plans.

Wakefield Council is examining purchasing The Ridings retail centre.

Last week, business leaders in the city wrote to the council's leader and urged the authority to buy the site.

Senior councillors are expected to consider a report on the future of the centre at a meeting in November.

The local authority's Cabinet is due to examiner the "Wakefield City Centre Regeneration: The Future Development of The Ridings Shopping Centre" later this year.

The report says it is to "seek Cabinet approval to acquire The Ridings Shopping Centre" and future development of the shopping mall and city.

The centre, which was built in 1983, was bought by investment company NewRiver Retail in 2015 and later given a £5m makeover, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

'Very rare opportunity'

Wakefield Business Improvement District (BID), which represents about 800 businesses in Wakefield, urged senior councillors to take a stake in the centre.

David Woodhead, director of Woodhead Investments, which owns about 100 commercial properties in Wakefield city centre, also described the purchase of the centre as be a "no-brainer" for the local authority.

He said: "The Ridings is of more value to them than anybody else.

"They could relocate council services from various buildings throughout Wakefield city centre into the vacant parts of the Ridings, ultimately saving them the cost of renting alternative premises."

Mr Woodhead added: "Ultimately, this is a very rare opportunity to acquire a large amount of property in one go.

"It is not often this will come up for sale."

Mark Lynam, council corporate director for regeneration said: "In February, Cabinet gave the instruction for officers to explore options on the regeneration of the Ridings Shopping Centre.

"This work is ongoing and will be reported back to Cabinet later this year."