NEARLY 500 houses could be built in Huddersfield if councillors give the go-ahead to the plans today.

Kirklees Council's planning sub-committee was meeting to discuss plans for building 484 homes in Dalton and Birkby.

They will spend the morning visiting the two sites.

They are the old Jarmain's textile complex off Albany Road in Dalton and the former Hopkinson's valve-making factory on Wheathouse Road.

Developers the Hartley Property Trust have applied to build at the Dalton site.

Industrial buildings will be demolished and 169 houses and flats will go up around Albany Road, Crossley Lane and Cold Royd Lane.

The homes will be spread across three parts of the site.

One part is a greenfield area near Fenay Beck.

Building on greenfield land is against Kirklees policy, except in special circumstances.

But council officers have recommended that the development be allowed because it will improve the beckside area and create public spaces.

The fourth part of the site is a field near Round Wood Beck, next to Albany Road.

This area links the three other parts of the site to one another and is expected to be used as a public recreation space.

Local residents have sent Kirklees seven letters of objection to the scheme.

They are worried about the loss of wildlife habitat, contamination of the ground from previous industrial use, the potential for flooding on the site and problems that schools and busy roads will have coping with more residents.

In Birkby, 315 homes would be created on the Hopkinson's site, which was owned by the parent company, Glasgow-based Weir Valves and Controls.

Leeds-based developers Cala Management have made the application.

Sixty-eight of the homes will be flats.

Some will be housed within the existing industrial buildings.

A further 247 houses are planned for the site.

The factory shut last month, when Hopkinson's moved the 180-strong workforce to a new factory on The Ainleys Industrial Estate just outside Elland.

As well as the new homes, the Hopkinson's site will have parking, public open space, play areas and pedestrian routes.

Kirklees planning officers have recommended that councillors approve the scheme.

There have been no objections to the plans.