‘We got the result that we wanted’
Offering a complete Funeral Service with Service Chapel and Function Room. As I live on the premises your loved one is never alone at night. Fully Regulated, professional and affordable service tailored to your requirements. Please ring for a no obligation chat Radcliffe Road, Milnsbridge, HD3 4LX Protesters from the Save Mirfield group, with chairwoman Cheryl Tyler (centre front) outside Huddersfield Town Hall before the council’s Balderstone Hall Fields housing plan THE 21-year saga of Balderstone Hall Fields in Mirfield has reached its climax after planners refused permission for 61 houses to be built on former pastureland.
The move has delighted nearby residents who say that land earmarked for development by Newcastle-based Bellway Homes is riddled with former mine workings.
Jubilant campaigners applauded councillors in Huddersfield Town Hall yesterday and said they had made the right decision, putting safety before profit.
Representatives from Newcastle-based developer Bellway Homes left the council chamber without commenting.
The debate over Bellway’s application took a turn for the dramatic as the seven-member Strategic Planning Committee considered the proposal.
But after hearing powerful and passionate statements from local people, including the headteacher of a nearby school, they threw out the plans, voting six in favour of refusal with one abstention.
The plan was variously described as “ridiculous”, “unsafe”, “absolutely preposterous” and “simply unacceptable.”
Among the concerns highlighted by residents were narrow streets often crowded with parked cars, excess traffic, drainage issues, and, in the words of Mirfield councillor Vivien Lees-Hamilton, what really lies beneath the land.
“The old mine workings will always be there. These problems are insurmountable.”
Speaking immediately after the decision, a tearful Cheryl Tyler, chairman of campaign group Save Mirfield, said her overwhelming feeling was one of relief.
“It’s terrific,” she said. “We got the result that we wanted.
“The fact that it has been refused is something that we have been fighting for all this time.”
She described the committee’s decision as “very, very sensible” and said local people were “very grateful to them for putting safety before profit.”
Among those watching a webcast of the debate was Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff, who has campaigned against the development since before her election in 2015.
She echoed residents’ feelings and said the plan’s refusal was “very welcome.”
She added: “I’m absolutely delighted. I would like to pay tribute to Cheryl Tyler and the rest of the Save Mirfield campaigners who have worked tirelessly to demonstrate that this area was completely unsuitable for development.”
Planning officers recommended that the scheme be approved, particularly as Kirklees Council is unable to demonstrate a five-year housing land supply.
The plan featured 30 four-bed homes, 25 three-bed homes, and six two-bed homes of which 12 dwellings constituted affordable housing.
To secure the development Bellway had agreed to pay more than £200,000 to Crossley Fields Junior and Infant School and Mirfield Free Grammar to address pressure on school places, as well as more than £100,000 to compensate for lack of play equipment on the new housing estate.
However Clr Paul Kane said Bellway’s offer was an attempt to win approval for the development and to beat the deadline for the council’s Local Plan, which is scheduled to be approved in the new year.
The latest application follows in the wake of others dating back two decades.
In 2015 Bellway Homes pulled out of its plan to build on the fields just a few minutes before councillors were due to consider it.
The eleventh hour withdrawal came 16 years after protesters saved Balderstone Hall Fields by defeating Bellway at a public inquiry.
Local resident Amanda Wilcock spoke for many when she said: “We used to say ‘No way, Bellway.’ This time it’s ‘Stay away, Bellway.’”
Bellway Homes did not respond to a request to comment.