Residents being ignored over flooding warnings
FURTHER to my recent correspondence regarding Granny Lane in Mirfield, after the recent storms, Ciara and Dennis, Save Mirfield and GLAAG decided that they could not give up the fight on Granny Lane.
These storms demonstrated the issues that the residents have been trying to get taken seriously for many months.
Everyone by now knows that our concern is, with the loss of the flood plain, that the socalled plans for drainage may be shown to be ineffective.
A Planning Advisor at the Environment Agency in a recent letter to a member of GLAGG, said that they would request a condition to ensure no raising of ground levels in Flood Zone 3, which they had been informed would only be in the public open space, in order to “protect people and property from flooding and to prevent the transfer of risk elsewhere”.
Sadly this is exactly what is actually proposed because contrary to what they were told, the access to the site is in flood zone 3 and it is proposed to raise the ground levels!
A letter has been sent to the councillors on the Strategic Sub Committee and to the leader of the council – Clr Pandor, asking them to take this application back to committee so that it can be reviewed again in the light of recent events and the mistakes that have been made.
This can be done if they are minded to do so because final permissions have not yet been granted.
The application was approved at committee with incorrect information. The independent Flood Risk Assessment commissioned by residents pointing out errors was completely ignored.
Clr Pandor has been quoted recently as saying that he will not let Kirklees residents down so we need him to show that these were not just empty words.
The local elections are coming up in May and residents are watching carefully what is happening in Mirfield with interest and with some incredulity that the proposals for this site could have got as far as they have.
Stop pandering to these developers
I WAS excited to read the article in the on February 14 in which Shabir Pandor declared that “I will never let Kirklees residents down”.
Further aspects of the article highlighted how £10m would be allocated for “greening” of smaller towns.
I wrote to Clr Pandor alerting him to an opportunity where he could fulfil both of these objectives; encourage the Strategic
Planning Committee to withdraw approval for Miller Homes to develop 67 houses on a water meadow and green space in Lower Hopton, Mirfield.
I pointed out that virtually all of local residents had objected to this, how the area had been flooded over the years, how the last two weekends had seen road closures due to flooding, how vulnerable people had been evacuated and were suffering from anxiety.
The councillor sent a polite reply which said the matter was out of his hands. Residents of Lower Hopton are clearly let down by this. Yet again Kirklees Council demonstrates its disregard for residents and panders to wealthy developers.