Final piece of planning jigsaw given go-ahead
A GOVERNMENT minister has given the go-ahead for the final piece of the Storthes Hall jigsaw.
Planning and Communities Minister Ruth Kelly has approved a plan to create a retirement village on the site of the former mental hospital at Kirkburton.
It will mean work on the development of up to 300 homes could start within the next few months.
Detailed planning applications will now be drawn up by the developers, who bought the sprawling site off Huddersfield University.
And the news of the planning inquiry decision will mean years of speculation over the fate of one of Huddersfield's most controversial sites will finally come to an end.
The inquiry was held over two days last September after the application for a continuing care retirement community was put forward.
The proposals are to have a 300-home retirement village on the 17-hectare site.
The development will offer its retired residents continuing care as they progress through old age.
It will consist of a series of detached, semi-detached and terraced bungalows, offering one or two-bedroom accommodation.
The distinctive clock tower building will be turned into a 60-bed residential care home.
Communal facilities will include a restaurant, lounge, medical centre, fitness suite with pool and spa and a hair salon.
A similar development at Hartrigg Oaks, York, will provide the blueprint for the Storthes Hall site.
The retirement village will sit alongside the existing accommodation blocks which house students from the university.
A sports complex used by Huddersfield Town for training is not affected by the plans.
Mrs Kelly's findings state that the planned development would "enhance a derelict and degraded site in a most attractive location".
She also welcomed the idea of a retirement community on a site less suited to ordinary housing and said that transport issues were unlikely to be a problem.
The site boasts huge tracts of woodland and Mrs Kelly has urged that they be managed and kept open for public use.
The application was put forward on behalf of an unnamed developer by David Storrie Associates, of Dewsbury.
Mr Storrie said today: "This is excellent news, not only for us but for the people of Kirklees.
"It is an excellent development on all levels and could become a flagship development for Huddersfield and Kirklees.
"Of all the schemes that have been proposed for Storthes Hall this is the best one.
"Now we need to put in the detailed plans. I would hope the development could be under way within a few months."
The decision to approve the application comes after a series of proposals had been put forward for the site.
Shortly after the hospital closed in 1994 developers Dyke Brothers submitted plans for more than 800 homes, which sparked an outcry.
The university bought the site in 1995, with the intention of developing a student village.
In 2000, a major application for a housing development with retail and community leisure facilities was turned down.
The university sold its accommodation in 2003, but kept the sports fields.
