Inquest on teen found dead in car
THE first of 1,500 new homes destined for Bradley, on the outskirts of Huddersfield, have been given the thumbs-up by planners in Kirklees.
The decision marks the first phase of development in the area under Kirklees Council’s controversial Local Plan, which was adopted in February.
The council’s seven-member Strategic Planning Committee unanimously approved the building of 105 homes at Tithe House Way, off the A6107 Bradley Road.
The 9.5 acre (3.87 hectares) parcel of land is close to the boundary with Bradley Park Golf Course, which will be largely swallowed up by 1,500 homes.
The council has also drawn up plans to build a £69.2m bypass at Cooper Bridge as part of the Bradley Urban Extension. That scheme is currently under review. Drawings submitted by the council show 80 houses and 25 apartments on the plot.
More than half of the 80 homes are three-bed and a fifth of the 105 total will be designated as ‘affordable housing’, making them likely to be owned by a housing association for purchase or rental by people on lower incomes.
The project will see a number of access roads created that will be extended into the Bradley Park golf course site during the coming years as later phases of the build are progressed.
They will eventually link with the proposed bypass, connecting the area with junction 25 of the M62.
Katrina Hulse, for estate agents Cushman & Wakefield, called the project ‘an exemplar housing scheme’ and ‘a distinctive development’.
Senior council planning officer, Mathias Franklin, said: “If you are going to do something bold and imaginative then Bradley is the right place to do it.”
Developers will pay £228,000 towards a new primary school for the area as part of Section 106 contributions.
Under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 contributions can be sought from developers towards the costs of providing community and social infrastructure.
Clr Paul Kane (Lab, Dewsbury East) sought assurances that no development would begin until Section 106 agreements were signed - and that they would not be changed at a later date.
“All the contributions are fantastic if they come to fruition,” he said.
The entirety of the Bradley site is almost 169 acres (68.34 hectares).
The site has been allocated for 1,460 dwellings with potential for a further 498 beyond the plan period.
It means the only public golf course in the borough will be reduced to a nine-hole course.
An order from the Government, the Local Plan includes 31,000 homes, many of which will have to be built within the green belt, as there is insufficient non-green belt land in the borough. AN inquest has opened into the death of a pizza delivery driver found dead in an abandoned car at Scammonden.
Najeebullah Nekzad, 19, was found in a layby near the Nont Sarah’s Hotel on August 31.
Assistant coroner Oliver Longstaff heard evidence that Afghan-born Najeebullah had been identified by a relative and his fingerprints.
Bradford Coroner’s Court was told the cause of death was neck injuries.
Deputy senior investigating officer, Det Insp Ian Thornes, of West Yorkshire Police, was asked by Mr Longstaff about the possibility of any third party involvement.
He replied that there was, saying: “Yes, sir.”
Mr Longstaff then asked him: “Is there any indication as to how that enquiry is likely to be continued at this time?
Det Insp Thornes replied there was a very detailed investigation taking place with input from Greater Manchester Police.
He explained that three arrests had been made but all three men had been “released under investigation.”
The inquest was adjourned pending the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Najeebullah lived in Ashtonunder-Lyne.