Homes schemes progress report

WITH thousands of new homes in the works, the progress of Kirklees’ biggest housing schemes have been shared, with mixed successes.

A recent meeting of Kirklees Council’s Growth and Regeneration Panel heard that 2,001 properties are set to be delivered at sites across the borough by 2030 as part of the council’s plans for housing growth. The largest number of homes – 474 – from a single development will come from the first phase of the Bradley Park scheme.

This is followed by Dewsbury Riverside, where 350 homes will be built, then Soothill at Batley with 319 homes. However, the scheme at Bradley Park hinges on the completion of the A62 Leeds Road to Cooper Bridge scheme which is designed to cut congestion. In January, it was revealed that soaring costs saw the Cooper Bridge scheme now forecast to cost £94m – £20m over budget.

As a result, the road scheme is being phased, with the first phase focusing solely on improvements to the Cooper Bridge roundabout.

This was said to allow for the first phase of the Bradley Park scheme to go ahead, but Kirklees Council’s Director of Skills and Regeneration, Edward Highfield, said: “The whole allocation of housing would need the whole transport scheme to be delivered and we don’t have funding for that at this point in time.”

Cllr John Taylor (Con, Kirkburton) said: “The Cooper Bridge development is not just critical to Bradley Park, it’s also really important to Dewsbury Riverside as well.”

He asked that the full plans for Cooper Bridge be brought to a later meeting to be put alongside the plans for the two developments and added: “Unless we progress all of them, it’s going to cause problems at some point.”

Here is a breakdown of the progress that’s been made on some of Kirklees’ biggest developments:

Dewsbury Riverside is the largest of the Local Plan’s housing allocations, expected to accommodate up to

4,000 homes with community infrastructure and open spaces. The council owns just under 20 per cent of the site including a key point of access.

In August 2023, planning permission was granted for the main access road and the first 350 homes to be constructed, with these expected to be finished by 2030. In November 2023, Cabinet gave the go-ahead for the council to enter into legal agreements with Network Rail and Homes England, and carry out work to appoint a master developer.

Another key milestone that has been achieved so far is the completion of new allotments that have relocated from the site to another which is almost double the size. Work on the highways is ongoing to establish the impact the development would have on the road network and legal advice commissioned for some elements of the scheme.

BRADLEY PARK

Another site allocated for housing in the council’s Local Plan is 60 hectares at Bradley Park Golf Course. In its entirety, the site will hold around 2,000 homes, including those to be delivered at the privately owned Bradley Villa Farm. The majority of the site is in council ownership and so far, £800k has been released by Cabinet to fund preparatory works and help progress the plans. The council is undertaking detailed highways work, and has started discussions around strategic property acquisitions to support this. Legal advice has also been secured.

The council expects 750 homes will have been delivered on site by 2030.

ASH VIEW

Ash View is a 50-bed council Extra Care Scheme to help older people with additional needs to live independently. The apartments come as part of a wider development of 111 two, three and four-bedroom homes. Ninetyeight will be for market sale and 13 will be affordable homes..

External works on the Extra Care Scheme have been completed and a topping out ceremony took place at the end of January. Construction of the scheme is anticipated to be completed by September 2024. The final fit out and staff training will happen between October 2024 and January 2025, with tenants to begin living at the site from February next year.

SOOTHILL

This council-owned Batley site had a number of pre-development constraints due to its mining history.

The contractor, Keepmoat Homes, will be delivering 319 homes on the site, 95 of which will be affordable. In the last year, 86 plots have been under construction, 46 occupied, 65 secured as affordable homes as either shared ownership or affordable rent, and a further 30 plots transferred to the housing association - Incommunities.

A £4.59m grant was secured from Homes England as part of the Accelerated Construction Programme. This comes with the requirements that the scheme is delivered ‘at pace’ and using modern methods of construction.

KENMORE DRIVE

Kenmore Drive at Cleckheaton is an 80-bed affordable Extra Care scheme and public open space being delivered between Kirklees Council and Housing 21.

The scheme was said to be off to a difficult start last year when the original contractor became insolvent, but fortunately a replacement was found and the development is back on track.

An engagement with local residents took place in December 2023, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held earlier this month. The development is due to be completed in March 2026.

FENAY LANE

The Almondbury site is on a plot of council-owned land and will see 157 homes built by 2030. At Cabinet last November, approval was granted for disposal of the site to a Homes England Registered Provider through a competitive land sale. Such providers exist to provide and manage affordable housing, with a percentage of affordable homes on site to be ‘significantly above’ the Kirklees requirement of 20 per cent.

Aside from the above developments, a further 253 homes will be contributed by town centre living projects at Huddersfield and Dewsbury, comprising 53 and 200 homes, respectively.