Dewsbury MP in call for council jobs for ‘forgotten corner of Kirklees'
15 January 2008
MP Shahid Malik is calling on Kirklees to grasp what he claims is a golden opportunity to breathe new life into Dewsbury town centre by relocating hundreds of council office jobs from Huddersfield.
The government minister is set to meet council chiefs and union officers to explore the options, a move which he said would be a 'win, win' situation for the Dewsbury and the council.
Shahid said: "It isn't difficult to imagine the massive positive impact some 500 employees working in the heart of Dewsbury would have. It would energise and breathe new life into the town centre."
"At present the council has very few office-based jobs in Dewsbury, the bare minimum if truth be known and mostly front line services, where-as Huddersfield is home to thousands of posts. It's a situation which presents a serious imbalance, particularly when you factor into that equation the thousand-plus people from the Dewsbury area making their way to council offices in Huddersfield each day."
"I've spoken to a number of constituents who are council employees and there is an evident desire to see more jobs based in Dewsbury, and even stronger ambition for those concerned to work in Dewsbury."
Mr Malik is to make the argument for Kirklees to base more white-collar jobs in Dewsbury and said that a disproportionate number of desk jobs were based in Huddersfield. The MP said that figures from Kirklees show that up to 2,000 council employees from the Dewsbury area travel to jobs elsewhere in Kirklees every day of their working life.
"When you look at those figures it's easy to see why Mirfield and most of Dewsbury is at gridlock during the rush hour. I dare say that the town as a whole would breathe a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of taking hundreds of cars a day teken off our roads."
The MP said that one option he would put to the council would be the relocation of a major department, possibly the council's Intech IT team which with around 200 employees which will be moving to make way for a new supermarket development in Huddersfield.
Shahid said: "Much of Empire House stands empty and has done for many a year and it would make for a perfect location for 500 or so council employees to be based."
"You only have to look at the benefits of the thousands of Kirklees employees working within Huddersfield ring road to realise what a profound benefit just a few hundred of those jobs would have on Dewsbury town centre."
Mr Malik said that he'd also researched remote working patterns that had been successfully pioneered elsewhere.
"There are better and more flexible ways of working but it would mean Kirklees utilising the technology available to them. I'm not talking about homeworking, the benefits of which are questionable to employee, employer and tax payer alike, I'm talking about the reality of council workers based in Dewsbury providing local solutions to local issues."
"I want the council to look at ways in which people who live in Dewsbury could work here carrying out their duties on a remote basis from their department, wherever it may be, in council offices based in Dewsbury."
"It would undoubtedly provide a better work, life balance for Kirklees employees, it would also reduce carbon emissions and take cars off the road, and it would help rgeenratre the local economy."