Green spaces to be saved in new housing vision
A LOCAL Plan covering the next 15 years in Calderdale is set to have less of an impact on greenbelt land after council officials said 3,000 fewer homes would need to built in the borough.
Calderdale Council, one of two in Yorkshire admonished by Communities Secretary Sajid Javid for failing to make enough progress on its Local Plan, hopes to submit the vital document to the Government next year.
It last year went out to consultation on an initial draft plan which allocated enough land for the delivery of more than 15,000 homes, a total criticised for placing too great a burden on protected green-belt land.
The council said yesterday that it had adopted a new methodology for working out its housing figures, meaning it now needs to identify sites for fewer than 12,000 homes.
The new approach means brownfield sites in urban areas are being prioritised for development, and the most sensitive green-belt land is only considered when all alternative sites have been used.
There are now reductions on proposed housing sites across the borough, particularly in Northowram, Shelf, Greetland and Stainland.
Proposed changes to the draft Local Plan, which identifies land to meet the council’s requirements for new housing and economic development over the next 15 years, will be discussed by the council’s cabinet on February 12. The council’s cabinet member for planning, housing and environment, Coun Daniel Sutherland, said: “The Local Plan allows us to plan what our communities will need in future and to make sure that we have enough homes, schools and local infrastructure in the right places, as they change, grow and thrive.
“This is a careful balancing act as it is also vitally important that we protect our landscape and our environment, to support our wildlife, to enjoy at our leisure and to provide space to breathe now, and for the generations to come.
“I’m confident that with the proposals we are bringing forward that we can reduce the amount of green belt used to well under two per cent.
“This is a major step forward from where we were last summer and I hope everyone can get behind this move to preserve green spaces across the borough.”
According to the authority, a key part of the plan is the development of two ‘garden suburbs’ and an employment site in south-eastern Calderdale, which will see hundreds of millions of pounds invested into Brighouse and Rastrick as key centres for economic growth.
These garden suburbs are opportunities to develop wellplanned communities, with the inclusion of highways improvements, new schools and a setting filled with green recreational spaces.
The revised draft Local Plan will be published this summer, meaning members of the public can make formal representations. In 2019 the council will submit the document to Ministers.