Dozens of homes should be built on the site of the failed Holmfirth Tesco bid, planners have said.
Kirklees Council’s planning department has recommended councillors give the green light to a 56-home plan on the former Midlothian Garage site in new Mill Road.
The Holme Valley eyesore has been empty and abandoned for well over a decade and its future uncertain since the supermarket firm was turned away five years ago.
While more than 1,300 letters of complaint were received against the Tesco plan, just seven objections have been lodged against the new proposal for housing.
Along with the homes, the applicant says it will build a 62-bed care home on site, with a separate entrance and parking.
No council departments or official agencies have registered any significant concerns about the plans.
The former Midlothian Garage site off New Mill Road was at the centre of years of bitter rows after Tesco first applied in 2008.
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The supermarket giant was twice refused permission to build a large store by Kirklees and then lost its appeal in 2011.
The site, next to Holmfirth Tennis Club, has been unused since the garage shut down in 2003.
Otley-based Prospect Estates Ltd bought the plot from Tesco and lodged the homes plan late last year.
It has offered to build six units (11%) of “affordable housing” – below the council’s normal requirement of 15%.
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But planners say it is acceptable in this case.
The firm has proposed to planners that it will mainly build larger houses, with 40 of the 56 homes to be four-bed or bigger.
Speaking to the Examiner last year, developer Rob Cooke, from Prospect Estates, said: “It’s a good site, there’s demand for housing and it’s a nice area.” He added: “We will deliver something in keeping with the area.”
Councillors on Kirklees Strategic Planning committee will vote on the plan at a town hall meeting on Thursday, March 10.
