Review of M62 juctions at Brighouse and Ainley Top key to 270-housing development
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, 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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Hide AdIn 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 (July 28).
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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Hide AdLabour’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, off Bradford Road and Bradley Road, 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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Hide AdHe 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 chair Steve Hall commented: “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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Hide AdIn 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.”
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