Wakefield's market site gets £4.4m grant for creative hub

A hub to help creative businesses in Wakefield is to be set up with a £4.4m government grant.

The city's market hall closed last year and had been earmarked for a cinema, but those plans have been shelved, a Wakefield Council meeting heard.

Councillor Jacquie Speight said about 600 jobs were due to be created in the district with the grant.

The council successfully bid for a slice of the funding from a government cultural fund.

Ms Speight told the meeting on Tuesday the money would help "build around existing creative industries and nurture existing businesses".

"We expect that to translate into 600 new jobs. It really is a very exciting development," she added.

The market hall site was going to be demolished but was earmarked as the "ideal" location for the creative hub, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The plan to create a cinema and restaurant complex on the site had stalled because of "wider market conditions", despite planning permission being approved, a council report said.