Homes plan causing 'stress and anxiety' - residents

Plans for 50 new homes in part of West Yorkshire have caused "stress" and "anxiety", a group of local residents has said.

People in Stocksmoor, near Huddersfield, have called on Kirklees Council to end delays and reject what they said were "highly problematic" plans to build homes on a six acre (2.5 hectare) plot of greenfield land off Shepley Road.

The application, by Newett Homes, was submitted in April and is yet to be determined, though a target date for a decision had been set for August last year.

In its supporting documents, Newett Homes said the development represented a "fantastic opportunity" to provide the area with "high quality" new homes to meet local need.

More than 307 representations have been made in response to the application, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Previously, the land was safeguarded in the council's Local Plan, meaning no development would take place until at least 2031 when the plan expired.

However, as Kirklees does not have enough housing land to meet local need for the next five years – as is required by national policy – these sites can be used for "sustainable" development.

John Taylor, Conservative councillor for Kirkburton, said: "The failure of the council to determine this application in good time has created a real sense of worry and anxiety in the community and this is not acceptable.

"The developer has failed to show how this site could be seen as a suitable sustainable location and the council should stop giving them more and more time to try and make this work."

He added: "To put people's minds at rest and remove the anxiety the council just needs to refuse this application so that we can all move on, allowing the developer to drag this out like this benefits no one, not even the developers."

Graham Turner, Kirklees Council's cabinet member for finance and regeneration, said: "Delays with major applications like this unfortunately aren't unusual, but that's because the application process itself must be complex to reflect the scale of the project being put forward. 

"At the moment, the applicant is attempting to resolve some technical matters which will mean amendments to the application.

"After this, we will be able to move forward and make a decision."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.