Opponents of a housing development earmarked for Lindley Moor in Huddersfield have launched a stinging attack on developers.
And they have urged Kirklees Council to “listen to the people.”
Members of Lindley Moor Action Group say the site, on land off Crosland Road, is allocated for employment but has never been marketed as such, describing it as “a lazy, cynical insult to all concerned.”
And they criticised the application by developer Taylor Wimpey Yorkshire as “a destructive material departure from the Unitary Development Plan for which no credible rationale has been advanced.”
The scheme for 82 detached, semi-detached and terraced dwellings on a 2.7 hectare (6.6 acre) site has been marked for approval by planning officers in Kirklees. It will be discussed by a seven-strong panel on Thursday (JULY 5).
But campaigners say the plan contradicts more than 20 years of focus on its business potential and that the shift towards housing represents “abuse of intent.”
They have called on Kirklees Council to scrap the scheme.
In a strongly worded letter to the authority they state: “This application attempts another material departure from the UDP strategy by proposing yet more housing on land allocated for employment.
“The brave new world of the 1992 draft UDP promised 2,000 permanent jobs for local people on strategic land allocated for employment as bedrock industrial regeneration.
“Contrast the 2018 reality of easy developer profits from unsustainable greenfield housing: 32 new jobs, few affordable houses for locals, commuters choking our air and roads, and precious green fields transformed to dormitory wasteland.
“We have confidence that Kirklees Council will find the courage to recall their strategic mission, listen to the people, and reject this application with vigour.”
The site was previously the focus of a plan for 325 homes. That scheme was thrown out at a public inquiry.
Planning chiefs say recent appeal decisions have confirmed that given the lack of a five-year supply of deliverable housing land its housing land policies in the UDP are out of date.
Officers said: “As such the lack of an adequate land supply in itself is a relevant and material planning consideration as is the provision of 82 additional dwellings that would help address the shortfall.”
Lindley Lib Dem councillor Cahal Burke said “serious questions” needed answering before the green light is given, particularly around drainage.
He said a flood risk assessment had not addressed failings and that he had been unable to secure a credible explanation.
“The failure of the drainage scheme for the wider plot remains in shrouded in secrecy. We need to know what has gone wrong with these developments. How can we be sure that the ratepayer will not have to shoulder the burden?”
