New homes in flood fears
MORE housing forming part of Kirklees Council’s Local Plan has been approved.
Planning permission in principle was granted for 35 homes earmarked for a site at Spurn Point, off the A62 Manchester Road, in Linthwaite.
The site is currently occupied by a textile machinery company with industrial units, offices and a storage yard.
A second, separate, application, for eight dwellings at Lancaster Lane, in Brockholes, was also given the goahead.
Despite planning officers’ assurances that the Linthwaite site was at a low risk of flooding, there were concerns from some members of the Huddersfield Planning Sub-Committee when it met in Huddersfield Town Hall.
Referencing housing developments in his ward that had been plagued by flooding and poor drainage, Clr Nigel Patrick (Con, Holme Valley South) refused to support the Linthwaite plan without seeing a flood risk assessment (FRA).
His party and ward colleague Clr Donald Firth – who has also dealt with flooding problems at a housing site in Scholes – added: “We have had so many problems with flooding that, quite honestly, we don’t want to be sticking our neck out and making further problems.”
The council’s head of planning, Mathias Franklin, confirmed that the developer would deliver an FRA and that members were being asked to vote on the principle of the scheme.
“The debate is for the next committee, when you are asked to look at a layout,” he said. “At this time, you are almost being asked to confirm what the Local Plan is already saying.”
The indicative layout for the land shows 20 semi-detached houses, 12 flats and a block of three terraced houses. A fifth of the homes will be affordable.
Kirklees’ Local Plan, which will see tens of thousands of new homes built in the borough, was adopted in February.
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 there is insufficient non-green belt land in the borough.