A “BIZARRE” plan to knock down three houses and create access to build homes on a landfill site in Mirfield has been thrown out. Horsforth-based Yorkshire Property Estates Ltd had asked for its application to build 63 homes on a filled-in former quarry off Old Bank Lane to be deferred. But Kirklees Council’s seven-member Strategic Planning Committee voted unanimously to refuse the scheme instead. Builders wanted to create an access road to the site by bulldozing three terraced houses on Old Bank Road. That was described as “a bit bizarre” by one councillor. But the main argument against building was made made by Mirfield councillor Martyn Bolt, who said it was “stupid” to consider digging up land that had been contaminated over many years, including with spent industrial and chemical waste.
PLANNERS have reined back on approving a contentious housing scheme earmarked for an ancient floodplain in Mirfield. But it’s not because of flood risk. Instead many of the houses planned have been found to be too small. Local campaigners have fought for more than 18 months to stop Wakefield-based developer Miller Homes building 67 houses on a watermeadow off Granny Lane in Hopton Bottom, which regularly floods during heavy rain. Building on the “challenging site”, which is allocated for housing within Kirklees Council’s Local Plan, was approved in December 2019. At that meeting Labour councillor Carole Pattison , who sits on the authority’s Strategic Planning Committee, said: “We are strapped for housing. The houses are protected. I think it’s worth the risk and I think that’s what the developer has decided.”
Updated
Monday, 1st February 2021, 2:10 pm
It will be based within a new extension to existing units at the Rishworth Centre, close to the A638 ring road, that will replace the branch of Next that currently occupies the premises.
A report to a meeting of Kirklees Council’s Strategic Planning Committee (Jan 27) revealed that Next is due to vacate that unit.
However the Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that Next will continue to operate from the Rishworth Centre site until it is served notice to vacate.
Next store at the Rishworth Centre, Dewsbury.
Nick Pleasant, agent for Leeds-based NewRiver Retail Portfolio No.8 Ltd, described introducing an Aldi store into Dewsbury as “retail-led regeneration”.
DEVELOPERS who cover roads with mud and other detritus from building sites could face enforcement action following calls for a crackdown. There was cross-party support for Kirklees Council to more strictly monitor builders in the borough after pictures and video emerged of lorries at the massive Mirfield 25 site leaving trails of mud on the A62 Leeds Road. The matter came to a head at the council’s Strategic Planning Committee when Clr Martyn Bolt (Con, Mirfield) said some roads had become hazardous with cars at risk of skidding and that the problem had gone on for a year. The committee agreed to enforce planning conditions – including ensuring developers use wheel or pressure washers on vehicles – and requested an update by the next meeting on January 27.