Controversial Dewsbury resi returns for Kirklees verdict
CC Projects wants outline permission for 181 homes on land south of Heybeck Lane, Chidswell, restoring a 2022 consent quashed earlier this year by the High Court.
The recommendation of officers is that approval should be delegated to the head of planning, pending the completion of a Section 106 agreement including a £300,000 education contribution, 20% affordable homes, and various other conditions, mostly around highways and sustainable transport.
To be considered on 4 December, the application from CC Projects, part of the land-rich Church Commissioners for England organisation, relates to the smaller of the two Chidswell sites within a mixed-use site allocation, and is being presented to Kirklees’ strategic planning committee at the request of Cllr Cathy Scott and Cllr Habiban Zaman, along with a number of representations.
Land owned by the Church Commissioners for England close to Chidswell, around two miles north-east of Dewsbury, is inked in to accommodate around 1,500 new homes within Kirklees’ housing growth plans.
The earlier decision and the case against
In December 2022, the strategic committee resolved to approve the application, with a decision notice issued in October 2024, following the completion of a Section 106 agreement.
However, the decision was challenged by the Chidswell Action Group, which sought a judicial review on four grounds, two of which were ruled as permissible. A later ground, on procedural breach, was then added, and it was on this point – relating to transparency issues around the publication of the Section 106 agreement – that the claim was allowed, meaning the 2024 was quashed this September.
The central point of CAG’s opposition is that the fields around Chidswell and Heybeck should remain just that, acting as they do to separate Leeds, Wakefield and Dewsbury’s boundaries and provide a “green lung” for the area. The proposed CC development, the group believes, is simply too large.
The site concerned sits at the top oof the wider CC masterplan. Credit: planning documents
Return to committee
Kirklees, now as then, cannot demonstrate a five-year housing supply, a factor officers said should be a factor. With practices now updated, the Section 106 has been published, amended, and republished.
Making sure it has its ducks in a row, Kirklees has asked planning silk Killian Garvey to give its processes the nod, the barrister noting that, although council practices had been heavily criticised, the issue was purely technical, and that “for the avoidance of doubt, the High Court’s judgment quashing the Council’s decision should in no way inform how the Council ultimately determine the application going forward”.
Since the September ruling. 115 representations have been made to the council, from interested parties including CAG, Just Transition Wakefield, Keep Our Rural Spaces, the Upper Dearne Valley Environmental Trust, the Woodland Trust and the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.
Much of this relates to biodiversity net gain and questions around habitat, with several complainants raising concerns in this area.
Documentation on Kirklees’ planning portal goes back to 2020. The professional team listed with the application’s design & access statement includes planner Deloitte, Enjoy Design, landscape architect re-form, Brooks Ecology, and transport planner Pell Frischmann.
Documents relating to the application can be viewed on Kirklees’ planning portal, reference 2020/92350.
