'Environmental disaster' fears as Denby Dale new homes plan to be decided

Controversial plans which some fear could cause an “environmental disaster” in Denby Dale, will be decided next week.

If the application from Urban Group York Ltd gets the go-ahead, 62 new homes will be built on a parcel of grassland at Cliff Hill on the northern edge of Denby Dale village. The homes would range from one to four bedrooms and be a mixture of detached, semi-detached and terraced.

A previous application for 48 homes had been turned down by one of the council's planning committees in 2022 on a number of grounds including privacy worries, concerns around proposed coal extraction, and an insufficient housing density.

Since then, a more recent planning saga has been rumbling on, with the current application expected to be decided at last month’s Strategic Planning Committee meeting on May 16. However, the committee opted to defer this until a later date so that more details could be submitted by the applicant.

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Their request for information primarily related to the strategy to stabilise the site in light of its coal mining past. The panel wanted to know more about the quantity of coal and other materials to be removed from the site, how this will be carried out and how the environmental impact will be mitigated, among other issues.

Now that some further information has been put forward by the applicant, the plans will be brought back to the committee for a decision next Thursday (June 20).

The proposals have already proved highly unpopular with local residents and ward councillors alike, with 55 objections submitted in response. Several speakers attended last month’s meeting to make their thoughts known. One resident described the plans as “fatally flawed” and urged the committee to refuse the application.

Speaking of the potential impact on traffic and accessibility to the site, another said: “In my opinion, as a local resident, this is an accident waiting to happen. Somebody’s going to get killed or seriously injured as a result of this site access due to a road traffic accident.”

A representative of the Upper Dearne Valley Environmental Trust also attended the meeting and said: the organisation is “thoroughly opposed” to the application. She said: “It is a cramped, overbearing, oppressive and unattractive design on a hillside and will be seen for miles around.

All three ward councillors - Cllr Tim Bamford (Con), Cllr Hannah McKerchar (Labour) and Cllr Will Simpson (Labour), echoed residents’ concerns. In a statement, Cllr Bamford said: “This development has the potential to cause an environmental disaster for Denby Dale by destabilising the site and releasing contamination and posing a flood risk. This site is extremely challenging and in my opinion, not suitable for development and planning permission should be refused.”

Councillor Simpson said it would be “negligent and potentially dangerous” for the committee to approve the application without having the information explaining how issues around coal mining would be addressed and remedied.

He requested the application be deferred “in the least” and said: “My worry is that the way that the remediation may be done could be worse for local residents, worse for air quality, worse for water pollution and the wider environmental impact, worse for transport movements, than the proposals regarding the houses themselves…”

However, council officers had recommended the application be approved. The local authority also has to take into account the borough’s shortfall of housing when determining planning applications.

Speaking on behalf of the developer, Will Marshall told the meeting of the “strong need” for additional homes in Denby Dale and the wider Kirklees area. He continued to tell the meeting how the previous grounds for refusal had been addressed.

When the matter was discussed by the committee, Cllr Andrew Pinnock (Lib Dem, Cleckheaton) said he was “not convinced” that this had been achieved. The councillor moved the deferral of the application and this was seconded by Cllr Bill Armer (Con, Kirkburton).

After some discussion, a vote was taken with three panel members voting for deferral of the application - Cllr Pinnock, Armer and Cllr Mark Thompson (Con, Birstall and Birkenshaw), and three voting against it - Cllr Mohan Sokhal (Labour, Greenhead), Cllr Carole Pattison (Labour, Greenhead), and Cllr Moses Crook (Labour, Holme Valley South).

The deciding vote in favour of deferral was cast by Chair of the meeting, Cllr Eric Firth (Labour, Dewsbury East).

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