"It’s a constrained site, but we think it’s the right site to bring forward" - 10-home plan gets go-ahead in West Vale

Calderdale Council’s Planning Committee members unanimously approved Ravenswood Trading Ltd’s plans for the site, which is opposite Avoca House at Workhouse Lane, West Vale.

The approval is subject to the developer signing a legal agreement to address issues around affordable housing and biodiversity.

Councillors heard the site is a steep and challenging one, and this impacted on the scheme’s viability where affordable housing is concerned – normally a proportion of the homes would need to be “affordable”.

In this case, planning officers consider it appropriate that, instead, securing a financial contribution to enable affordable housing to be developed elsewhere in the borough was suitable.

The agreed sum will take into account values proportionate to each house type proposed to secure a 20 per cent equivalent contribution relative to the housing mix proposed, councillors heard.

Responding to a question from Coun Jonathan Timbers (Lab, Calder), planning lead officer Richard Seaman said this was an established approach and the money would be deployed by the council’s housing service on delivering affordable housing elsewhere in Calderdale.

For example, it could be used on schemes which need financial support for affordable housing to make a development viable, he said.

There were two objections received to the proposal, raising concerns about loss of open space, including removal of some garden areas, increase of traffic congestion and pressure on parking spaces, whether drainage would be adequate to address flooding risk and potential overlooking of existing properties, affecting privacy.

And an objector at the meeting raised the vehicle intensification, loss of wildlife habitat and people using some garden space if it went ahead.

Councillors were told in terms of habitat the legal agreement includes sums to be secured for off-site improvements – they wondered where these might be but were told the exact details had not been decided yet.

Answering questions from Coun Colin Hutchinson (Lab, Skircoat) and Coun Timbers about flooding, officers said relevant authorities were happy with the attenuation tank proposed.

Councillors also added a planning condition that water butts be added to homes to help contain some run-off.

Coun Sue Holdsworth (Lib Dem, Greetland and Stainland) raised concerns about increased parking and access for emergency vehicles, but highways officers said they did not believe there would be problems and the new access to the site would in some respects be an improvement.

Also, some footways along the frontage of the site and through the site would be created where there were currently none.

Addressing objectors’ concerns about impact on parking spaces and the loss of garden space for some existing residents, officers said there were no allocated parking spaces on the road – no-one had a right to a parking space there.

Some garden space would be loss but the land in question was not in ownership of those using it, they added.

Officers also said regarding concerns of privacy and overlooking, that the distance between the new and existing dwellings was “adequate”.

For the developer, planning agent Jay Everett said the scheme had been long in gestation while issues relating to what was a challenging site were resolved.

“We’ve worked really hard – it’s a constrained site, but we think it’s the right site to bring forward,” he said.