Lady Heton homes plan suspended by Secretary of State

Campaigners against a controversial planning decision in Mirfield have been given an eleventh hour reprieve.

Despite a spirited fight by members of the Lady Heton Action Group, Kirklees Council’s Heavy Woollen planning sub-committee had given the green light to developer Ben Bailey’s proposal. The land off Lady Heton Drive is allocated housing land.

But plans have now been suspended while the Secretary of State reaches as decision on whether it should be called in for review.

Both sides have 21 days to make representations before a decision is made.

At a meeting last week LHAG members asked councillors to defer the proposal so the number of houses could be reduced and the plans could comply with the council’s BE12 planning guidance. Policy BE12 states there should be 21 metres between habitable room windows or 12 metres between a habitable window and a blank wall or the window of a non-habitable room.

The meeting was told as many as 10 plots breached the policy.

But Kirklees planning officers told campaigners BE12 was simply guidance and not a hard and fast rule.

Campaigners then wrote to the Secretary of State asking for a review into the decision.

A council spokeswoman said: “It is common with this type of application for objectors to write to the Secretary of State to ask for a decision to be called in. There then follows a set procedure where information is gathered by both parties over a 21 day period. A decision will then be made.”