Two schools will be fully re-built.
Councillors on the Strategic Planning Committee gave the go-ahead for a three-storey new build with a separate sports hall for All Saints Catholic College, Bradley, with the current school then demolished.
Meanwhile councillors also approved the demolition of the existing Whitcliffe Mount School and the erection of a new school and sports hall at the Turnsteads Avenue, Cleckheaton site.
The seven-strong committee were unanimous in approving both of the plans.
For the All Saints proposal, just two people objected to the plans. One said they didn’t have enough time to make representations while other concerns related to the loss of privacy due to school windows overlooking houses, plus light pollution from security lights and calls for parking in the school grounds for parents to prevent parking on Bradley Road.
Whitcliffe Mount School will be three storeys high with a single storey sports hall.
But the plans proved controversial with 48 objections overall, many due to the loss of the existing sports centre which was open to the wider public.
MP Mike Wood did not object wholly, but lamented the loss of the Foundation Building – the original school building – which the Spen Valley Civic Society and the Victorian Society also had concerns about.
Clr Andrew Pinnock asked if the Foundation Building could be retained and Simon Taylor, head of planning, said it has cost implications for Kirklees Council with no end user for the building. Clr Pinnock said he would accept a full recording condition of the building.
Clr Graham Turner said: “We can’t afford the buildings we’ve got let alone take more on.”
