A huge toxic tip next to Bradley Park Golf Course is an “absolute showstopper” to Kirklees Council’s housing plans, a property expert has claimed.
Developers and consultants have done their best to talk down the council’s ambitions of re-developing the large site.
At the public inquiry into the proposal that would see the golf course torn up to make way for 2,000 homes, a school and a community centre, agents acting for firms who want the plan to fail spoke out.
The inquiry allows evidence to be heard from people behind other land owners, many of whose plots were snubbed for housing by officials from the council.
But if the golf course plan fails, the council will be forced to find space for hundreds of homes at other locations.
The public hearing at the Hudawi Centre heard that the old tip between the golf course and the M62 contained a range of highly toxic deposits.
It is known that Syngenta – formerly ICI chemicals and then Zeneca – used a landfill site at the end of Lower Quarry Road to deposit waste.
Archived documents have found that in 1977 Zeneca had a licence to dump asbestos, contaminated demolition waste, effluent sludge, gypsum and laboratory waste.
The 40-year-old paperwork confirms that tipping began in 1945.
Household and industrial waste was also tipped on a site adjacent to homes at Tithe House Way and Park Hill, off Bradley Road.
Peter Vernon of Vernon Property LLP told the inspector and the council that he was sceptical of the council’s ambitions to begin building in three years time and have the 2,000 homes ready by 2031 – the time limit for this planning policy period.
He said there would be significant costs and time spent finding a solution.
“The landfill area of the site is quite capable of being an absolute showstopper,” he commented.
“The combination of all these issues can cause significant delays in my experience.”
Mr Vernon said the fact the council had not yet signed a deal with a major housing firm showed that none were interested in Bradley Park.
Despite this, the council is expected to apply for planning permission for the initial few hundred homes in the next few months.
A spokesman said they intended to sell on the right to build and then pass over the site to a volume housebuilder.
Mr Vernon said the idea was unusual.
“Why not get a development partner?” he asked.
“It’s very strange that you want to bring as much housing as you can at an early stage.”
David Storrie, a town planning expert working for the golf club, also pitched in.
He said part of the site had been available for development since 1999 yet no-one had shown any interest.
Chris Darley from Lichfields property consultants, acting for Yorkshire Water’s property arm Keyland Developments, said: “The fact there’s no developer on board and there isn’t likely to be one for a while leads me to believe it’s overly ambitious.
“It’s unrealistic.”
A spokesperson for the council said they were comfortable with their plan to deliver the homes as they had full control of the land.
And they highlighted that the current masterplan did not involve building any homes on the site.
