Controversial plan to build 89 new homes off Leeds Road in Newton Hill area of Wakefield approved

More than 150 people objected to proposals to build the houses off Leeds Road in the Newton Hill area of Wakefield, with many bemoaning the prospective loss of the land as well as concerns about extra traffic.

The plans will involve the demolition of a house worth around £300,000, and the new homes will be put up to the south of Silver Street.

A previous idea to build 82 properties on the same site was turned down in 2017after a backlash from the Friends of Newton Hill.

But Wakefield Council's planning committee voted today (Thursday) to approve the revised proposals, put forward by developers Taylor Wimpey.

Agent Stephen Courcier, speaking in favour of the scheme, said: "This is an ideal location for the delivery of new housing.

"It will be accessible via public transport and has excellent links to the centre of Wakefield.

"A significant amount of work has gone into addressing the concerns raised by members of the planning committee previously."

The meeting was told that future residents would access the homes directly from Leeds Road through the space vacated by the demolished house.

The previous plans were thrown out in part because homeowners would have had to drive through existing side streets to get onto the main road.

Two residents were due to speak against the application at Thursday's virtual meeting, but technical problems meant they were unable to address councillors directly.

Letters read out on their behalf suggested residents would be forced to live with "horrible mess" and more "inconsiderate parking".

One of the neighbours also claimed that roadworks signs had been put up around the area by Taylor Wimpey in November, suggesting that planning permission was already a "done deal".

Mr Courcier said the increase from 82 to 89 homes was because the new designs had a "more efficient housing mix", but he denied suggestions that this meant the properties were smaller or "more squashed together" as a result.

Although Wakefield guidelines state that at least 30 per cent of new developments should be classed as affordable housing, the council said it accepted that only nine per cent of this new estate would be, because Taylor Wimpey had "demonstrated it would be otherwise unviable".

Councillor Kevin Swift, who was one of just three of the committee's 13 members not to vote in favour of the plans said he feared the new builds would be too close to existing properties.

Suggesting the site shouldn't have been allocated for development on Wakefield's local plan, he said: "We're talking about a site that's very marginal on viability, complications in providing access and a site that's being jammed up a bit tight against housing on Silver Street.

"I do remain very, very concerned about the oppressive relationship between the new development and those houses."

Local Democracy Reporting Service