Planning application submitted for nearly a hundred new homes in Wakefield

Under the plans the homes would be added to the City Fields development and include car parking, garages, vehicle, pedestrian and bike access, infrastructure and access from Neil Fox Way.

The ongoing development is a 375-hectare area in the process of creating more than 2,500 new homes.

This planning application is the next stage in that plan.

A design and access statement from the developer supplied for the latest stage says: “The proposed layout creates a high-quality development which will deliver much needed affordable houses.

"In addition, the site will provide areas of formal open space, play space, new and improved pedestrian routes, and creates structured landscape areas which contribute to on-site biodiversity.

"To conclude, the proposal will integrate within the wider City Fields masterplan creating a sustainable and well- balanced community, without detriment to the character of the area, or nearby residents.”

Natural England, a government advisory body to help to protect and restore the natural world, said it had no objections to the plans.

It said: “Based on the plans submitted, Natural England considers that the proposed development will not have significant adverse impacts on statutorily protected nature conservation sites or landscapes.”

But Wakefield Council’s Sport and Health Improvement Service/Public Health Department criticised the health impact assessment (HIA) for the plans that the developer had provided.

It said that the HIA "does not demonstrate an adequate and proportionate consideration has been given to the type of impacts that may occur”.

An HIA is intended to look at matters that affect health and wellbeing of a development and any measures that could be put in place to minimise any negative and maximise any positive results of that development.

The local authority deparment said the document provided had missing, irrelevant, inaccurate or duplicated responses to the questions asked.

A representative added: “I urge the agent to take the HIA process more seriously in the future.”

The developer said the layout of the latest stage followed the path of previously approved plans and created a “logical extension to the urban settlement boundary” in line with the approved masterplan.