‘Rushed through’ fears over new homes plans
THERE are fears that almost 1,500 new homes planned for Huddersfield, and Cleckheaton are being “rushed through” in the final days before the local elections on May 6.
Councillors on Kirklees Council’s Strategic Planning Committee tomorrow will be asked to look at applications for 1,497 houses in the borough – almost as many as the authority’s yearly quota within the controversial Local Plan.
Four out of the five applications have been recommended for approval by planning officers.
The high numbers have been flagged by both a senior Liberal Democrat and the committee’s Labour chairman.
Andrew Pinnock, a veteran Liberal Democrat councillor representing Cleckheaton and a member of the council’s seven-strong Strategic Planning Committee, said: “It’s not very good at all that this appears to be being rushed through just before the elections.
“Why some couldn’t be left to the next meeting, I don’t know.”
Committee chair Clr Steve Hall (Lab, Heckmondwike) agreed that it was “unusual” to see “such a large number” of homes up for approval on one agenda.
He added: “It could have been done slightly differently – split over two meetings – but that’s how it falls.”
Clr Hall said he was reluctant to say too much, as he did not want to be accused of having made his mind up about the applications before the meeting took place. However he said there was always a chance that some plans could be deferred if the committee felt it did not have sufficient information to make a decision.
The next scheduled meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee is on May 12. By then the make-up of the Labour-run council may have changed.
That could mean a crucial shake-up for the committee, which is currently made up of three Labour, two Conservative, one Liberal Democrat and one independent councillors.
Independent councillor Rob Walker, who quit the Labour Party last year, has voted with his former Labour colleagues but is standing down at next month’s elections.
Housing plans up for debate are: Up to 770 homes on 72 acres of land formerly occupied by the Black Cat Fireworks factory off Blackmoorfoot Road and Felks Street, Crosland Moor, Huddersfield.
Circa 270 dwellings on agricultural land at Bradley Villa Farm off Bradford Road, Huddersfield. This is part of a much larger 168-acre site that includes Bradley Park Golf Course.
267 homes on 26 acres of land at Hunsworth Lane, Cleckheaton.
122 homes on 11 acres of farmland close to the M62 motorway off Whitechapel Road, Cleckheaton.
68 homes on 5.4 acres of agricultural land off the A629 Penistone Road, Fenay Bridge, Huddersfield. Originally set to be 100% affordable housing, the scheme has been altered to 20% affordable provision. The committee will be asked to note the pre-application report for the Bradley Villa Farm proposal.
All the other applications are recommended for approval.
Kirklees’ Local Plan, which will see tens of thousands of new homes built in the borough, was adopted in February 2019.
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 the council says there is insufficient non-green belt land in the borough.