Council halts £5.8m plan to extend traveller site at Heath Common
Plans to extend Wakefield’s main traveller site at a cost of around £5.8m have been put on hold.
Wakefield Council has confirmed the scheme to increase the number of pitches at Heath Common has been halted as part of spending cuts.
It involved the authority buying an historic former golf house building so it could be demolished to make way for the extension.
The area around the property has been earmarked to provide more gypsy and traveller accommodation in the council’s new Local Plan.
Council leader Denise Jeffery informed parish councillors of the decision change on September 18.
Draft minutes of a Warmfield-cum-Heath Heath Parish Council meeting state: “Coun Denise Jeffrey attended the meeting.
“She confirmed that the proposed extension to the traveller site at Heath is not going ahead and, although is still in the Local Development Plan, will be taken out of the capital programme.”
Confirming the decision, Natalie Palmer, Wakefield Council’s corporate director for resources, said: “In the past year we have significantly reviewed our capital programme to ensure it reflects the financial resources we have available to deliver projects.
“As a result of this, an extension to the traveller site at Heath Common is not currently within our capital programme.”
It was revealed in 2022 that the council was considering spending more than £1m on the Old Golf House building at it faced strict deadlines on providing more traveller pitches across the district.
Purchasing the 126-year-old property would have allowed the council to lift a restrictive covenant prohibiting development on nearby land.
The cost of the extension was expected to be at least £5.8m.
The council has not made the financial details of the golf house purchase publicly available.
But it is understood an agreement was made to purchase the house for £475,000, plus stamp duty and “associated fees.”
The agreement included offering the property owners an interest-free “relocation loan” of £475,000, along with “reasonable moving costs” of £10,000.
It was believed demolition of the property would cost around £100,000.
A sum of around £200,000 was expected to be required to build a new access road to the site.
The council previously said it was legally obliged to accommodate travelling families.
Residents groups, including Heath Residents’ Association, have opposed the plans and have been critical of spiralling costs.
Wakefield Council warned last month that it is heading for an overspend of £9.9m this financial year.
The authority’s second monitoring report for 2024/25 outlines how the overspend is mainly due to a prolonged period of high inflation coupled with increasing demand for frontline services.
Plans to build a new health hub in Castleford were also put on hold in September due to spiralling costs.
The project is being delivered in partnership between the council and the NHS.
The NHS said plans to build the multi-million pound facility in the town centre were being “reworked” due to funding pressures.
The council previously agreed to invest £12.5m to fund the project in 2022 to replace the ageing Castleford Health Centre, on Welbeck Street.