05/11/2022
Please please have a look at this and object.
Would be a travesty if this area was built on
***Urgent update*** NOW is the time to contact Kirklees Council if you wish to object to the huge proposed development on former greenbelt at Chidswell & Heybeck. The good news is you can object by email this time so we don’t have to struggle with the complicated Planning Portal; The bad news is the Council is quickly moving to obtain Outline Planning Permission with a decision to be made in December. This is a crucial stage for this site.
To make comments on the 2 proposed sites you need to email: [email protected]
You MUST include the planning refs on the email for your comments to be considered: 2020/92350 & 2020/92331.
There are 2 refs as the smaller site at Heybeck (2020/92350) was split from the larger site at Chidswell (2020/92331) to enable early approval of Heybeck. This split of the site happened after the site was approved as a whole – we would suggest objecting to both sites in the same email but this is your choice and there are some different considerations for each site.
Your objection doesn’t need to be long but it does need to be relevant to the planning process. Comments are best put forward in your own words, so we are sharing background information rather than a ‘cut and paste’ suggestion. Remember, each member of a household can object individually and you can comment if you are outside of Kirklees if you’re affected by this permanent change of land use.
Key points for objections – please use this info to write your own objection and elaborate if you have personal experience or opinions around these points). You don’t need to use all of these – just take the info and pick out anything that matters to you:
- Permanent loss of agricultural land. Natural England have requested site-specific surveys to assess the quality of the land but the Land Owner (Church Commissioners for Church of England) has refused to do so. The Land Owner states that the need for new housing and employment outweighs the loss of agricultural land. The Planning Department have admitted they do not know if the land is of better agricultural value than the Land Owner claims and it appears there are no plans to conduct the assessments repeatedly requested by Natural England
- Permanent displacement of endangered Skylark & Yellow Hammer which breed on the land in large numbers. The Ecological Impact Assessment states: “with a development site of this scale, some impacts remain significant, and are very hard to mitigate”.
- Years out-of-date Ecological Surveys which have been ‘updated’ by one single walk-over by an Ecologist (employed by Land Owner) in October 2022 after a drought.
- Biodiversity Net Gain report (based on October Ecologist walk-over) claims the development will deliver 10% more biodiversity than in its current state. A previous Biodiversity Net Gain report, based on exact same conditions, was assessed at 14% Net Loss so how do the same plans increase by 24%? The net loss in 2020 was advised independently by Yorkshire Wildlife Trust but it appears the Planning Department and Land Owner have ignored the comments made by the YWT Ecologist.
- Unrecorded protected species have been evidenced on site by local community. These species have additional protection in the planning process but are not considered if they are not in the Ecological Surveys. We have evidenced Schedule 1 species: Kingfisher, Red Kite and Barn Owl. The Land Owner has dismissed our evidence to say the species are only foraging on site and not resident. Have you ever seen these species on site? The Kingfisher has been recorded regularly on the waterway just below the site and if waterways become polluted it will lose its feeding ground. This is not being considered in the planning process currently.
- Bats have been reported by the Land Owner’s Ecologist as having ‘no significant activity on site’. We have over 9,000 verified recordings of bat calls in and around the 2 Ancient Woodlands. Have you ever seen bat activity on or around the site?
- Impact on climate change – woods, fields, streams and fields contribute to climate resilience and act as a cool zone. Changes to land use affect its health and ability to fight climate change
- Loss of local amenity with positive benefits on mental health
- Loss of green lung that separates Leeds, Wakefield & Kirklees
- Impact on Kirklees Wildlife Habitat Network / Local Wildlife sites. This is an important link in the wider habitat network.
- Damage to Ancient Woodlands: Dum & Dogloitch Woods – the surrounding buffer has been identified as too small to prevent damage to the Woodlands. Not building on woods won't stop them being destroyed. There are other impacts that will cause the death of the woods.
- Objections from CPRE & the Woodland Trust were redacted by the Planning Department, to remove details of who they were from when published on the Planning Portal.
There is much more you could comment on but we hope the above gives you some useful information. If we think of anything we have missed we will add it into the comments on this post.
