M62 junctions to be reviewed before large housing scheme can go-ahead

A large-scale housing development earmarked for farmland close to the M62 will not be allowed to go-ahead until two key motorway junctions are assessed.
The site of a proposed 270-home estate near Bradley Villa Farm in HuddersfieldThe site of a proposed 270-home estate near Bradley Villa Farm in Huddersfield
The site of a proposed 270-home estate near Bradley Villa Farm in Huddersfield

Highways England has lodged a formal objection to Redrow Homes’ plan to build 270 homes at Bradley Villa Farm, off Bradford Road and Bradley Road in Huddersfield, on land that slopes down to the motorway.

It wants junctions 24 and 25 of the M62 – at Ainley Top and Brighouse – to be assessed, with a review taking place no later than December 3.

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In the meantime it has recommended that permission is not granted.

Officers with Kirklees Council said the objection “effectively prevents a decision being made on the current application until those concerns are addressed”.

The plans were discussed at a meeting of the council’s strategic planning committee.

The site, part of which is in the green belt, is at the western end of a much larger 168-acre site – known as HS11 – that includes Bradley Park Golf Course.

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Labour’s James Homewood, in whose Ashbrow ward the scheme sits, raised a string of concerns about the proposed development, which forms part of Kirklees Council’s controversial Local Plan.

He said the site requires an up-to-date masterplan that takes into account the council’s proposals to spend £75m on the congested Cooper Bridge junction.

He spoke of “incursions” into, and further impact on, the green belt, the risk of a lack of connection between the Bradley site and other future developments, such as those in neighbouring Calderdale, and how what he described as “a piecemeal approach” to planning was worrying.

He also suggested that locations for affordable housing were in the “least desirable” parts of the site.

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He said “a lack of a coherent plan” meant masterplanning “really needs to be considered”.

Officers also questioned how Shepherds Thorn Lane could be extended across the M62 to link up with planned housing schemes in Calderdale.

Committee chairman Steve Hall said: “There’s a hell of a lot of work to be done on this.”

Farm smells and motorway noise are also likely to be factors associated with the Redrow scheme.

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In a report on the scheme environmental health officers said “unpleasant odours” had been detected at 10 locations across the site.

The report added: “Officers cannot conclude that the future risk of odour complaints is low.

"Properties should be spaced further away from the adjacent farm.”