Residents oppose plans for homes on quarry site
PEOPLE living near a proposed development are gearing up to fight plans to build 174 new homes on a former quarry site in Calderdale.
Strata has applied to Calderdale Council for permission to build the homes on the 15-hectare site at South Edge Quarry, Brighouse Road, Hipperholme, and argues that as well as new homes which are muchneeded in Calderdale, the proposals provide a generous amount of public open space.
But Clr George Robinson (Con, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe) says nearby 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.
Of 113 public comments so far logged on the council’s online planning portal, 112 object to the plans while one is considered neutral.
Clr Robinson said residents were questioning if this constituted landfill while wider concerns included whether infrastructure could cope with this amount of new homes, with traffic feeding into the 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 because of poor air quality.
Clr Robinson said: “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?”
Clr Robinson said the site was in the draft Local Plan, which had not been signed off yet.
He added: “The council cannot, therefore, make the developer pay towards infrastructure improvements as part of the Community Infrastructure Levy. This is disappointing.”
In supporting statements submitted with their application, Strata says that the site was previously used for quarrying and consequently there is a substantial volume of ‘made ground’ – land where natural and undisturbed soils have largely been replaced by man-made or artificial materials – present, and the scheme will mediate the site.
This 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. The remediated area will be capped and landscaped, transforming it into an “attractive green edge” to the development incorporating a “generous” area of public open space.
The homes, while not including any “affordable” housing, will be of a variety of sizes and type, says Strata, who say the application is being made in the context of a pressing need for new housing.
No development has taken place in the 14 years since it was allocated as a development site and so its status should be changed, they argue.
The statement says: “The overarching benefits are significant, and through the remediation and subsequent delivery of new homes on this sustainable site, regeneration will be secured and future investment catalysed.
“The proposal represents a suitable form of development and therefore benefits from the presumption in favour of sustainable development, meaning planning permission should be granted without delay.”