Sign-off on plans for 38 new Halifax homes
Planning permission has finally been signed off for a 38-home housing scheme in part of Halifax.
The final sign-off for Keepmoat Homes Ltd’s proposals for a former school site at Clough Lane in Mixenden was subject to a legal agreement being sorted.
This has now been done and the planning permission signed off late last month.
The legal agreement ensures that nine of the new homes will be “affordable” – five two-bedroom homes, three three-bedroom homes and one four-bedroom home.
Five of the homes will be for affordable rent while four will be in shared ownership.
The agreement also means the developer has to pay the council £38,933 as a contribution towards providing public open space within 1,200 metres of the site.
And it ensured £9,797 is paid towards the council’s costs of ensuring plans for habitat are complied with.
The site was formerly Stanningley Green primary school, which closed in the 1990s, and the site is next to one of the current Ash Green primary school sites.
At the planning committee meeting last November, residents objecting to the scheme questioned if they were the right type. They pointed out that when consultation was first carried out, the most popular option among villagers was for homes for elderly people.
But planning officers said that 100 per cent of the homes would be accessible and adaptable – a percentage not often achievable on schemes.
In another statement, all three Illingworth and Mixenden councillors at that time, Dan Sutherland (Reform UK), Stephanie Clarke (Lab) and Shane Taylor (Lab) expressed concerns about the scheme.
These included about impact on infrastructure including school places, health centres, leisure, amenities and effect on the road network.
Regarding the education issue, there were enough school places within the catchment area, calculated from established methods used, the meeting heard.
In terms of traffic and safety concerns, Mixenden coped better than many other parts of Calderdale and there were plans to widen the road with better footpaths on either side, and a new crossing, highways officers said.
All considered, benefits of the scheme including to the wider Mixenden community outweighed harms which had been highlighted, said officers.