A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build houses on a watermeadow that floods in heavy rain has been thrown out. Campaigners have fought a long battle to stop a 67-home estate going up at Granny Lane in Mirfield. The proposals by Wakefield-based Miller Homes have pinballed back and forth between various committees at Kirklees Council. Now they have been refused. It was a tight victory for locals opposed to the plan, with the seven-member Strategic Planning Committee voting 4-3. Planning officers said none of the houses being planned would be built in the area of land worst affected by flooding. But councillors said they were not confident that measures being suggested to tackle flooding would work.
PLANNERS have reined back on approving a contentious housing scheme earmarked for an ancient floodplain in Mirfield. But it’s not because of flood risk. Instead many of the houses planned have been found to be too small. Local campaigners have fought for more than 18 months to stop Wakefield-based developer Miller Homes building 67 houses on a watermeadow off Granny Lane in Hopton Bottom, which regularly floods during heavy rain. Building on the “challenging site”, which is allocated for housing within Kirklees Council’s Local Plan, was approved in December 2019. At that meeting Labour councillor Carole Pattison , who sits on the authority’s Strategic Planning Committee, said: “We are strapped for housing. The houses are protected. I think it’s worth the risk and I think that’s what the developer has decided.”
Planners have reined back on approving a contentious housing scheme earmarked for an ancient floodplain in Mirfield.
Friday, 29th January 2021, 11:30 am
But it’s not because of flood risk. Instead many of the houses planned have been found to be too small.
Local campaigners have fought for more than 18 months to stop Wakefield-based developer Miller Homes building 67 houses on a watermeadow off Granny Lane in Hopton Bottom, which regularly floods during heavy rain.
Building on the “challenging site”, which is allocated for housing within Kirklees Council’s Local Plan, was approved in December 2019.
Members of Granny Lane Area Action Group (GLAAG) by meadowland in Hopton Bottom, near Mirfield, destined for housing.
PLANNING chiefs are recommending that a housing estate be built on an ancient floodplain in Mirfield. The controversial scheme, which has been vigorously fought by local campaigners, comes before Kirklees Council s Strategic Planning Committee on Wednesday. And if members back officers recommendation for full planning permission then 67 houses will be built on the watermeadow off Granny Lane in Hopton Bottom, which regularly floods during heavy rain. The scheme, which has been back and forth from committee over many months, is being supported by council planners as part of the authority s Local Plan, which aims to build 31,000 new homes across the district over the next decade.