Green light for housing
CARE HOME AND 161 DWELLINGS AGREED BUT ANOTHER APPLICATION DEFERRED
PLANNERS have approved another housing estate in Kirklees.
A 50-bed care home and 161 homes will be built on the councilowned site off Ashbrow Road, close to Ashbrow Infant and Nursery School, in Huddersfield.
More than a third of the properties on the Ashbrow site will be affordable.
And after councillors claimed the original design was creating a “ghetto” with all the affordable homes on one street, leading to accusations that less well-off people would be “stigmatised” rather than integrated into the development, the lay-out has been changed.
Members of Kirklees Council who sought reassurances over the scheme were told by officers at a meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee that the redrawing of the site presented “a good mix”.
There are now clusters of affordable homes on three areas of the site.
There was praise for the new social care facility from Clr Bill Armer (Con, Kirkburton) who said he would like to see it go forward “as quickly as possible”.
Doncaster-based developer Keepmoat Homes will pay an education contribution of £239,576, which will be split between Ashbrow School and North Huddersfield Trust School in Fartown.
But another contentious application, at Cumberworth Road in Skelmanthorpe, was deferred for further investigation following strong objections by residents, local councillors and Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff.
Concerns over drainage, access and traffic prompted planners to defer an application for 190 homes.
There was a strong objection from Ms Sherriff, who described the plan by York-based Persimmon Homes as “completely inappropriate”.
She expressed concerns over “damaging” extra traffic and what she felt was a lack of “truly affordable”properties on the 14-acre (5.68 hectare) site.
She said schools could not cope with extra numbers as their rolls were full.
Residents poured scorn on “independent” supporting reports calling them “unreliable” and “invalid” and arguing they had been commissioned by Persimmon to support its case.
Helen France described the proposal as “not fit for purpose”.
Planners were also criticised for publishing their report a day before public consultation on the plan ended, leading one resident to say the application had been “predetermined”, an accusation that was rejected by officers.
Members voted to defer the application to clarify several issues including drainage, schools and the spread of affordable housing throughout the site.