Planning experts have said they have serious doubts that plans to build thousands of homes on Bradley Park golf course are realistic.
Consultants acting for housing firm Persimmon have raised significant concerns over Kirklees Council’s plan to squeeze almost 2,000 houses onto the golf course site.
They have cast doubt on whether the plot is big enough for so many houses and also said ambitions to deliver the first phase of 360 houses within five years are unrealistic.
It is the latest blow after a string of criticism over the plans .
The consultants claim it could be more than six years before planning permission is granted, adding that is a “conservative estimate.”
Meanwhile a second firm, Vernon Property, has dubbed the idea that 360 houses could be built as “completely optimistic.”
Persimmon’s consultants, Lichfields, have also backed claims made previously that the council’s proposal breaches national planning policy, as it is not replacing the lost golf facility with one of equal or better provision.
Lichfields say the council has failed all three tests of planning law that allows sports facilities to be concreted over for homes.
The document, produced for the government planning inspector currently holding the public inquiry into the council’s Local Plan, also claims that no more than 600 homes should be built on the site until major road upgrades are completed.
It says any more would lead to “unacceptable impact on the Leeds Road and Bradley Road junction.”
The author concludes that 750 homes would be possible if major work to ease traffic at Cooper Bridge is completed.
That road project is still in the design stage and is many years from being started.
The report says: “What is clear is that the Bradley Park site will not be delivered in full without these works.”
It goes on: “This lack of clarity regarding the highways implications of the development supports our view that the delivery rates assumed by the council within the early stages of the (Local) Plan period are unrealistic.”
The report also claims Kirklees is trying to squeeze too many homes onto the green belt plot.
It says the council is trying to fit 61 dwellings per hectare (dph) when it should be about 35 (dph) – the average dph in the borough.
“The residential capacity of the site has been overestimated,” the report claims.
In its final damning assessment, Lichfields highlights that not one developer has come forward with any interest in building on the golf course site, close to the M62 and a large waste tip.
Persimmon’s report concludes that Kirklees needs to find more sites for housing and recommends three that it owns in Kirkburton, Gomersal and Mirfield, that have been rejected by council planners at this stage.
Vernon Property also calls for its Birkenshaw site to be brought back into the fold, saying that the golf course proposal is too big an impact on the green belt.
Their report concludes: “This is quite clearly a case of a planning authority lumping all the eggs in one basket...”
The planning inspector’s review of the Bradley Park site will be held later this month with a result expected in late 2018.
