Leeds City Council is set to announce its latest public consultation on controversial plans to increase housing across the city.
And Pudsey Conservative MP Stuart Andrew has today renewed calls for constituents to raise their objections to Leeds City Council’s Site Allocations Plan, which aims to map potential sites for around 70,000 new houses across the city.
The final stage of consultation will begin on 22nd September and will last until Monday 16th November. It gives residents the opportunity to raise their comments online or at dedicated ‘drop-in sessions’ across Leeds.
A drop in for residents in Pudsey, Calverley and Farsley areas will be held on Wednesday 30th September at Pudsey Civic Centre from 2pm-8pm.
Mr Andrew said:
“This consultation is so important, because it is really constituents’ last chance to raise their objections to the site allocations plan, which is going to have a devastating effect on greenbelt areas.
“The figures that the plans are based on are out of date and appear to disproportionately affect certain areas of the constituency.
“I have been contacted by hundreds of constituents who want to preserve the natural boundaries between our towns, so I would urge them to make their submissions to the council before the consultation closes.”
The submissions made during the consultation will be assessed by an independently appointed Government inspector, who will decide whether the list of potential sites requires further review.
The council says the highest allocation of new homes will be in the city centre and ‘inner area’ of Armley, Beeston Hill, Belle Isle, Gipton and Harehills, Hyde Park and Woodhouse, Hunslet and Seacroft.
Land allocated for housing in the Pudsey area also includes: Planned developments along Calverley Lane, 70 houses at Hill Foot Farm in Pudsey, 160 houses down Hough Side Road, Pudsey, 99 houses off Acres Hall Avenue/Troydale Lane in Pudsey and 206 units off Dick Lane in Thornbury.
The Dispatch reported in June how council chiefs rejected government statistics on projected population growth in the city, which showed that the number of households in Leeds is projected to rise by just 44,500 over the next 15 years.
They said the figures failed to take into account a number of local factors in Leeds.
The Dispatch reported a fortnight ago how Farnley and Wortley ward councillors have warned local residents over the need to have a say over plans to build on green belt land off Gamble Lane.
Land allocated for housing in west Leeds also includes: 29 units at Airedale Mills in Rodley, 40 units on the former Wortley High School site, 35 houses at Wortley Low Mills off Whitehall Road, and 206 units of Dick Lane in Thornbury.
In Armley there are plans for 38 units off Wesley Road and land has been allocated for a mixed housing and employment at Armley Gyratory. Included in the land allocation is housing up Kirkstall Road and in the Otter Island area, off Kirkstall Road.
The Dispatch will feature a comprehensive roundup of how everyone can take part in the consultation once it’s officially launched.
West Leeds is rapidly linking up with Bradford, and we feel we are already being swamped by Bradford! If you build 70 houses on Hillfoot Farm land, where will the road come out- on Galloway Lane? How on earth will people cross that busy road? Where will these people go for medical treatment?- you can’t get appointments at Hillfoot Surgery now! The Dentists in Pudsey are full! Where will the children go to school- Bolton Royd is full, Waterloo Primary is full, and has no where it can be expanded! Greenside Primary is in the same predicament!
If you build on Dick Lane, I can’t imagine anymore traffic coming round that Thornbury Gyratory! Acres Hall is green belt land!
Don’t local people know what’s best for their area? When were the public meetings?