Kirklees Council blunders lead to delay in £36m sports centre decision
Aug 13 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Kirklees Council blunders lead to delay in £36m sports centre decision
COUNCIL blunders have delayed a decision on a new £36m sports centre for Huddersfield.
But campaigners yesterday pledged to use the extra time to build more opposition to the proposal for Spring Grove Car Park.
Kirklees Council’s Huddersfield Planning Sub-committee had been due to rule on the sports centre at its monthly meeting at the Huddersfield Methodist Mission yesterday.
But chairman Clr Linda Wilkinson announced that the planning application would be deferred because the report on the proposal drawn up by Kirklees officers was incomplete.
Sub-committee members receive the agenda for planning meetings a week in advance. Council officers email any updates to councillors the day before the meeting.
But the council’s email system is broken, meaning sub-committee members only received the update yesterday morning, a few hours before they were due to make a decision.
Clr Wilkinson added that the update for the sports centre application was unusually long.
The Almondbury Lib Dem said: “There’s quite a lot of information to take on at short notice.”
The update contained information missing from the original report – including the fact that Springwood residents had collected a 348-name petition against the sports centre plan in 2008.
Hazel Spencer of Springwood and Greenhead Tenants and Residents Association said: “Either the planning department or the regeneration department has lost our original petition, which isn’t good.
“Luckily I had a copy which I gave the council earlier this week. I’m glad I kept it.”
