Residents ready to fight 174-home quarry site plan
RESIDENTS ARE gearing up to fight proposals to build 174 new homes on a former quarry site in Calderdale.
Strata has applied to Calderdale Council seeking permission to build the homes by remediating and developing the 15-hectare sight at South Edge Quarry, Brighouse Road, Hipperholme, and argue that as well as new homes which are much-needed in Calderdale the proposals provide a generous amount of public open space.
But ward councillor Coun George Robinson says residents are extremely concerned about the plans, which will involve the developer separating landfill material, removing usable material and moving waste they are concerned might be contaminated into landforms at the back of the site.
Coun Robinson said residents also have wider concerns included whether infrastructure could cope with this amount of new homes, with traffic feeding into the busy main crossroads at Hipperholme.
He said evidence in the council’s draft Local Plan, the examination of which is not yet completed, shows the junction is over capacity with traffic already, and the area is already subject to Air Quality Management Area becuse of poor air quality.
“The applicant proposes to move some of the existing landfill waste into landforms at the back of the site.
“These landforms would be adjacent to the proposed houses. This is shocking.
“We are all concerned about our environmental obligations – after all, the council has declared a climate emergency, so why is such an archaic development practice being proposed in the 21st century?” said Coun Robinson (Con, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe).
In supporting statements with the application, Strata says the method will involve extracting the made ground, relocating it on-site away from the proposed development area and creating a suitable plateau for the homes to be built on.
Strata say the application is being made in the context of a pressing need for new housing in the borough.