Hearings to discuss thousands of new Calderdale homes set to resume

A date early in the New Year has been set for a postponed hearing session into aspects of Calderdale’s draft Local Plan.
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Stage four hearings were held in the early autumn save for a session devoted to air quality assessments on habitats, which were still being completed.

A technical note issued by Calderdale Council on air quality in some parts of the borough will also be considered on the same date.

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The day of hearings will be held at the Shay Stadium, Shaw Hill, Halifax, which will also be streamed live to the council’s YouTube channel, on Tuesday, January 11, 2022.

Calderdale Local Plan hearings will resume in the new yearCalderdale Local Plan hearings will resume in the new year
Calderdale Local Plan hearings will resume in the new year

The sessions, run by Planning Inspector Katie Child, who will ultimately determine whether or not the plan is sound and should be implemented, will be open for people to observe in the audience.

People who wish to participate in the hearing sessions, or observe them from the audience in person, must however notify the programme officer Miny Schofield – phone 07799 724690 or email [email protected] – by Friday, December 3.

The morning session, from 10am, will consider a technical note issued by the council on air quality – a concern of some campaigners against aspects of the plan because of the extra traffic development may generate – including the report concluding air quality will be in compliance with regulations at Clifton, close to where garden suburbs might be placed, by 2022, and whether development would need to be phased there or in other locations.

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The afternoon session, which will run from 2pm, will consider the air quality assessments for habitats, was delayed because the council was in the process of preparing a Statement of Common Ground with Natural England – this is the government’s adviser for the natural environment in England – on the issue.

The council’s own air quality assessment report, compiled by Manchester-based engineering and professional services firm WSP, argues there will be no adverse effect on the integrity of the South Pennine Moors special areas of conservation (SAC) or South Pennine Moors special protection area (SPA), arising from the Local Plan either alone or in-combination with the neighbouring Bradford Emerging Plan.

The detailed agenda for the afternoon item is still to be confirmed.

If approved, the Local Plan will determine where around 9,700 new homes might be built in Calderdale into the 2030s.

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