So here we are again with a vote on the Kirklees Local Plan.
Let’s remember how we
got to this point. The last time we had the then Local Development Framework in
front of us. That Plan was withdrawn through a vote of this Council due to
concerns expressed by the Planning Inspectorate. The reason that was given from
the Government Planning Inspector was that we had not fulfilled the ‘duty to
cooperate’ with other Local Authorities but in reality the truth was that there
were simply not enough houses in the Plan to satisfy Government demands. The
Green Party voted not to withdraw the plan, to call the Government’s bluff to
show that we didn’t really have any say over how many houses needed to be built
in our area. If we had kept the plan then the ball would have been in the
Governments court. It would have been up to them to overrule the wishes of our
democratically elected Council just as they have done with the Fracking Planning
Application that was recently refused by Lancashire County Council. We are not
the masters of our own destiny. Government sets the rules of the game and we
have to follow.
Between 2008 and 2011 developers gave 3.3 million pounds to
the Conservative Party during that time they and later their Government was
formulating what became the National Planning Policy Framework where we see the
guiding principle behind all Government Policy – the presumption in favour of
development. Did the construction industry give money to the Conservative Party
because they are philanthropists and it was a toss up between the Tories and
the Save the Children Fund who they gave their brass to? Of course not they
wanted something in return. Since the
Coalition and now a Conservative Government has been in power we have seen a
weakening of the planning powers of Local Authorities and a strengthening of
the hands of developers. It is because of Conservative Government rules that
developers are able without a Local Plan to apply to build anywhere in
Kirklees. So we are caught between a rock and a hard place. Produce a Local
Plan with more houses than are needed to satisfy rapacious developers or have
no plan and let those very same developers have a free hand to put planning
applications in anywhere in Kirklees. So I say to the Conservatives this
planning shambles is of your own making, your fingerprints are all over it,
you’ve taken the money and you have been seen leaving the scene of the crime. So much as it would be convenient to blame the
Labour Administration of this Council a Conservative Administration would be in
the exact same situation.
So what about the Plan itself. There are some real positives
and of course negatives. On the positive side we are very pleased that the
Green Belt has been extended down from Castle Hill to the stretch of land
bordered by New Laithe Hill and High Lane at Newsome. The people of Taylor Hill
Road can rest a little easier knowing the Council will not be pursuing the
threat of building housing on their back gardens. In Highfields the Community
Orchard bordered by Wentworth Street and Mountjoy Road will be redesignated as
a Local Green Space protecting it for local kids and the Community to use as
they already are doing. We are disappointed that land at Jackroyd Lane ,
Newsome has not been removed from the plan as it is part of a green corridor of
land leading up to Castle Hill and is part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust
Stirley Farm Estate. We are however pleased that land at Newsome Mill, the
former Stile Common School site, Cambridge Road have been allocated for
development. We hope that they will be high quality properties with Passivhaus
energy efficiency standards and will be available to people on lower incomes to
rent or buy.
We have played a full part as a group negotiating the best we
could for the communities we serve and represent. We will continue to do so but
let us be under no illusion the negatives here are those created by the policy
direction given by this Government. No attempting to wriggle, to shift the
blame will wash. This isn’t Labour’s Plan, it’s not really even Kirklees Plan,
in reality it isn’t not even the Conservative Government’s Plan but is the Plan
of their paymasters - the developers.
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