Kirklees Council approve 180 new homes for Cleckheaton despite affordable properties reduction

Last week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service reported that the applicant – Strata Homes – submitted a viability assessment which said it was unable to deliver the financial contributions required by the council as it wouldn’t make a reasonable profit. This saw the council reduce the required number of affordable homes from 36 to 12 and drop the £357,733 contribution to Heaton Avenue and Whitcliffe Mount schools completely.

As well as providing 12 affordable homes, council officers recommended that the developer contribute just less than £60k to off-site open spaces, £33k for bus stop improvements, £10k towards sustainable travel and just less than £200k to achieve biodiversity net gain. However, at the last meeting of the Strategic Planning Committee, members shared their concerns about the proposed allocation of funds.

Coun Mark Thompson (Con, Birstall and Birkenshaw) suggested that the funds could be used elsewhere to “better serve the local residents immediately.” He said: “There are several challenges in Cleckheaton but one of them is mainly in the traffic light junction with Spen Lane.

“Putting another nigh on 200 houses on a road which is less than a quarter of a mile away from the project – I’m wondering whether the allocation of funding shouldn’t be better used with expanding the junction with Spen and also school improvements in the local area. I’m not sure tossing nearly 200k into biodiversity will help the local residents more than putting the money into a school or improving the junction there.”

Coun Andrew Pinnock (Lib Dem, Cleckheaton) explained that the local primary school was already at capacity. He suggested that the off-site open space contribution of just less than £60k was instead put towards education.

Fellow Cleckheaton ward councillor Kath Pinnock (Lib Dem) who doesn’t sit on the committee spoke at the meeting. She explained how she and Councillor John Lawson are in support of the plans.

However, she shared some concerns and said that the site was “severely contaminated” due to its previous use as a dye works and how at peak times, there will be a worsening of queues in the town with drivers likely to use side roads as a result. She also explained that there have been nearly one thousand new properties in Cleckheaton and no addition to GP capacity.

Whilst the councillor was in favour of the proposed mixture of bedroomed homes, she said the lack of affordable housing is not positive and thought the officers would have pushed “more robustly” to get more affordable homes.

Senior Land and partnership manager at Strata Homes, Matt Hesketh, told the meeting the development would bring “much-needed housing” to the area and would create direct and indirect jobs. He added: “This is a site in urgent need of remediation and regeneration and our properties provide a great opportunity to see its redevelopment for new, much-needed homes in Kirklees.”

After much discussion, the committee concluded that the contributions for off-site open space, bus stop improvements and sustainable travel should be merged to make one pot of cash. This money amounting to over £100k would be used for education.

With these changes included, the committee unanimously approved the application.