An anti-homes campaign leader has accused Kirklees councillors of showing “utter contempt” for the public as they plan to forge ahead with controversial development of the green belt.
Councillors want to offer up a 392 acre woodland plot between Mirfield and Dewsbury to developers as part of the Local Plan.
They say there’s room for 4,000 homes on the site, stretching south from Ravensthorpe up to the edge of Mirfield and Thornhill Lees.
Protest group Horses Not Houses is set to present a 36,000-signature petition against the idea at the crunch town hall meeting on Wednesday, which will rule on the plan.
But leader of Kirklees Council, Clr David Sheard, has warned the council cannot afford to bend to public or political pressure as they are required to conform to government planning rules.
Horses Not Houses campaign leader, Marcus Jessop, accused councillors of failing to listen to their communties.
“I think the whole process from the start has been totally undemocratic,” he said.
“They’re just going through the motions. They call it a public consultation and ask us for comments but they’ve shown utter contempt for what the public want and expect of them.
“Who are they serving – the public of Kirklees or the government?
“They’re just passing the buck and blaming the government, much like they have with their finances.
“They don’t want to take responsibility for their own actions.”
The huge, hilly green belt plot between Ravensthorpe, Mirfield and Thornhill Lees is the biggest site proposed in the council’s controversial master plan for development over the next 15 years.
It features woods, a nature trail, fields and is used by horse owners for grazing and stabling.
Council officials’ vision is to use the massive development, dubbed “Dewsbury Riverside” to regenerate the river area from Mirfield to Dewsbury.
Plans for two new primary schools, a secondary school, new public parks and spaces, a Ravensthorpe relief road and improvements to Ravensthorpe train station are all proposed.
It is hoped the scheme could take pressure away from the Cooper Bridge gateway into Huddersfield and Mirfield.
But Mr Jessop said he thought there was a more suitable site only a short distance away – the former Lower Spen Valley landfill site, that over the past five years has been revamped as Dewsbury Country Park.
He added: “Why can’t we keep a natural beauty spot as it is and make the most of it and develop the old refuse site instead?”
The Local Plan meeting is at Huddersfield Town Hall on Wednesday from 3pm.
