A Tory councillor believes Kirklees Council’s planning committee has become too “political.”
Lindley councillor Mark Hemingway claims the way some planning decisions are made is nothing short of “scandalous.”
Clr Hemingway said he and fellow Lindley councillors were often accused of NIMBYism for fighting for people in their own backyard.
But that was because he believed Lindley unfairly bore the brunt of development, not least the new homes and industry planned for Lindley Moor.
Clr Hemingway was speaking out after a stormy meeting of the council’s Strategic Planning Committee at Huddersfield Town Hall which granted permission for 190 houses in Grimescar Valley.
He said the committee over-ruled people’s objections over big increases in traffic and pollution at Grimescar Valley yet small-scale plans had been rejected in the past “because of the impact on local highways and the fact it might spoil someone’s view.”
Clr Hemingway said he believed political considerations dominated planning and added: “In my view the way some planning decisions are decided at the moment is scandalous.
“Politics should play no part in the planning process but it seems to me as if it does.
“At almost every meeting someone blames the current government and uses it as an excuse for building on yet more open land and, unfortunately, the Lindley area is suffering as a result.
“It’s true that we have housing targets but we also had housing targets when I was on a planning committee under the last government. I don’t recall the political speeches at those meetings like the ones we have now.
“If building was spread evenly across Kirklees that would be fair, but it isn’t. Planning at the moment is both inconsistent and unfair and areas like Lindley are going to really struggle in the future as new properties are built.
“By my calculations there are over 700 homes that have been granted planning permission that haven’t yet been built or sold.
“There is also planning consent for two industrial areas on Lindley Moor including a distribution centre. Surely enough is enough?”
Labour councillor Steve Hall, chairman of the Strategic Planning Committee and Cabinet member for planning, highways and open spaces, said it was nonsense that meetings had become too political.
He said councillors were frustrated as their hands were tied because the council had no Local Plan in place.
The lack of a planning blueprint meant the council had to have cast iron grounds for refusal for land earmarked for development, known as provisional open land, otherwise they would lose on appeal costing taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds.
Work on a new plan is underway and Clr Hall warned other parts of Kirklees would share the pain.
“In my own area, Heckmondwike, we can’t build much more but there sites coming up in North Kirklees, like Chidswell in Dewsbury,” he said. “We are going to take a hell of a belting in North Kirklees.
“My group realises that we have to move forward to attract businesses and build new homes. We have 10,000 people waiting for a council home.
“We want to see housing right across the spectrum from one-bedroomed bungalows to four or five-bedroomed houses and more affordable homes too.”
Clr Hall said the Tories also brought politics into planning. He said he was disgusted how Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney addressed the committee over Grimescar.
“He came telling elected members what to do,” he said. “We won’t be lectured to by him.”
