Green belt land in Calderdale is being saved from development.
Calderdale Council is reducing its proposed housing sites on green belt in Northowram, Shelf, Greetland and Stainland.
It comes as it was revealed the council’s Local Plan had overestimated the number of new homes it needed, so can drop plans for around 4,000 new homes on green belt.
A key part of the plan remains including the development of two ‘garden suburbs’ and an employment site in the Brighouse area.
It will see hundreds of millions of pounds invested into Brighouse and Rastrick as key centres for economic growth.
Clr Daniel Sutherland, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Planning, Housing and Environment, said: “The Local Plan allows us to plan what our communities will need in future and to make sure that we have enough homes, schools and local infrastructure in the right places, as they change, grow and thrive.
“This is a careful balancing act as it is also vitally important that we protect our landscape and our environment, to support our wildlife, to enjoy at our leisure and to provide space to breathe now, and for the generations to come.
“I’m confident that with the proposals we are bringing forward that we can reduce the amount of green belt used to well under 2%.
“This is a major step forward from where we were last summer and I hope everyone can get behind this move to preserve green spaces across the borough.”
The Local Plan also earmarks large parts of Clifton for development into an employment zone.
Proposed changes to the draft Local Plan which could significantly reduce the impact on the green belt will be discussed by Calderdale Council’s Cabinet at a meeting on Monday 12 February.
