Council leader and Production Park founder call for share of £100m culture fund to ‘transform’ South Kirkby

Denise Jeffery and Lee Brooks have also asked for a meeting with Levelling Up secretary Michael Gove in a bid to turn around the fortunes of the former mining town.

South Kirkby, which has an unemployment rate four times higher than the average for the Wakefield district, had had two levelling up funding bids snubbed by government.

In a joint letter, Coun Jeffery and Mr Brooks urge Mr Gove to ensure the area receives a share of a new funding pot which is being reserved for culture projects.

Production Park, based at South Kirkby’s Langthwaite Business Park, was established in 2015 by Mr Brooks and is a world leader in providing rehearsal and filming space for some of the world’s biggest stars including Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Arctic Monkeys and the Rolling Stones.

The letter says: “Our creative industries have a vital role to play in levelling up.

“As the government has recognised, they are at the centre of our future economy, and highly effective in spreading opportunity to every corner of our country.

“Production Park in South Kirkby should be at the heart of this vision. It is a world-leading creative campus.

“It has hosted some of the biggest names in music and film, staging global tours and bringing film to life.

“It provides a network for everything connected to live production and entertainment, all in one place.

“It will be at the heart of the UK being recognised as a world leader in this growing sector.

“Globally famous artists already come to use 300,000 square feet of purpose-built rehearsal space and state-of-the-art live production technology and facilities.”

Last summer, Production Park was chosen to become a national centre of excellence for the creative industries.

It is one of the largest centres in Europe developing special effects technology after attracting a slice of a multi-million pound funding deal from the convergent screen technologies and performance in real-time (CoSTAR) programme.

But in January 2023, the council missed out an £20m levelling up bid for South Kirkby which would have paid for a purpose-built facility to support higher education.

Plans also included fund of a new ‘creative cluster’ at Production Park aimed at creating up to 200 skilled jobs.

The letter adds: “The expansion of Production Park will help provide significant educational and employment opportunities for local people.

“That is why Wakefield Council, and a number of our partners, have identified it as an important priority for investment.

“The decision last year not to provide funding for South Kirkby…was extremely disappointing.

“It has left a key element of our plans unfunded, and some incredible potential remains frustratingly untapped.

“Investing in South Kirkby and Production Park will transform the future of the town. It will help to improve social mobility.

“It will create a pipeline of talent so that the UK creative sector can continue to play a leading role on the international stage.”