HCS has concerns about how many homes will be built on green belt land over the next 20 years

Kirklees Council has work underway to produce plans as to how our area will look in the years ahead.

The government requires sufficient land to be allocated to allow for future housing and employment, including nearly 40,000 new houses over the next 20 years. This is likely to require the reclassification of significant areas of the current greenbelt around Huddersfield and neighbouring towns. Kirklees Council’s detailed proposals are intended to be made public during 2027.

In this early stage of the plan production process HCS has submitted comments on a public consultation on the principles that the plan should follow, essentially ensuring ‘brownfield first’ development in urban areas which already have public facilities, in preference to a continuation of urban sprawl into areas of countryside without facilities.

This is our response to Kirklees Council’s Local Plan Scoping Consultation.

Huddersfield Civic Society is pleased to see several comments the Society made in January 2025 (during the ‘Early Engagement’ stage of this Plan’s development), reflected in section 3.7 ‘Outcomes of previous early engagement’ of this Scoping Consultation document.

Unfortunately, recent practices have favoured development in easy-to-build greenfield sites around the periphery of towns, most of which require car travel to reach all services. This severely hinders the rejuvenation of town centres and leaves Kirklees Council needing to provide additional services to multiple new outer developments. It also leads to fast increasing traffic congestion as new house dwellers drive to and from all shops, schools etc. Such outcomes undermine many of the noble objectives stated in the early sections of the current Local Plan Scoping Consultation.    

From the Society’s work in and around Huddersfield in recent years our principle request for this consultation is to firmly prioritise land allocations and local plan policies to drive developments into existing brownfield sites, most of which are close to existing services such as schools, shops, public transport, active travel routes, health and leisure services. There need be complementary policies to preserve greenfield around the existing urban periphery and also to encourage new quality green spaces (such as ‘pocket parks’) within existing urban areas, all linked by new, or improved, ‘Active Travel’ routes.

Homes for sale signs at Lindley Moor

The new Kirklees Local Plan offers an excellent opportunity to review land allocations and local plan policies to both meet housing objectives and improve the environment for Kirklees citizens for many years ahead.  

N.B. The consultation document mentions many relevant existing council documents but omits to mention Kirklees Council’s Local Cycling & Walking Infrastructure Plan (LCWIP 1).

Having contributed to the Early Engagement stage, Huddersfield Civic Society restricts its comments now to some key points we believe are currently missing from this Plan if it is to achieve the objectives it states. These are entered against relevant questions.

Question 1: Evidence

Do you think we have used the right information and evidence to help update the Local Plan?

  • Yes
  • NO

If no, please tell us what information or studies are missing and why you think they are important.

Whilst the Scoping Consultation document refers regularly to managing planned growth around the urban centres of Kirklees it omits the need to plan to address the accumulation of developments that sprawl towards, and across, the boundaries with neighbouring authorities.

Example: The current Kirklees LP assigned land for housing north from Huddersfield through Lindley and Fixby to almost reach the M62 (site HS11 alone allows for 1460+ new houses) while the corresponding Calderdale Local Plan has led Calderdale Council to assign land for major new housing developments from Brighouse and Rastrick almost up to the M62 much of the way along from Junction 25 to Ainley Top at Junction 24. At Ainley Top Calderdale Council has also allocated land for housing on the ridge south of the M62 which overlooks Lindley and Birkby towards Huddersfield town centre.

Hundreds of new homes have been built at Lindley Moor in recent years

Building the (already allocated) several thousand new houses in this area during the new LP period will have major implications in terms of cross-boundary use of infrastructure and services, there being virtually none currently planned in the many new developments either side of the mutual borough boundary. This will add major new needs for new residents to travel to reach existing services, often across the borough boundary, mostly by car on already congested main roads through M62 Junctions 24 and 25. It also drives the needs for much more parking spaces around existing shops, schools and services than currently exists in communities on both sides of the boundary. These factors mitigate against many of the goals of the local plan and make Kirklees a less attractive place for people and businesses.

The new LP needs to properly consider how to handle such already planned cross-boundary growth against the new plan’s stated environmental objectives as well as the impact of any further new allocations for housing or employment close to, or along Kirklees’ boundaries with neighbouring authorities.

Question 13: Any other comments

Is there anything else you think we should consider when preparing the Local Plan? Please tell us your thoughts and explain why they are important.

There need be clear measurement criteria to ensure that the new Local Plan delivers the many laudable environmental and community objectives described in this document rather than just counting the number of houses built or hectares of land allocated to particular uses.

Such measures ought be SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Possible examples could cover:

  • Percentage of new homes built on brownfield sites.
  • Number of new homes built within 1km of a school.
  • Number of new homes within 1km of a supermarket with floorspace above, say, 500sqm.
  • Percentage of new homes with solar panels.
  • Number of new green spaces for public use, eg ‘pocket parks’ above, say 1000sqm.
  • Number of (separate) new green spaces, allocated for wildlife above, say, 1000sqm.

Geoff Hughes,

Secretary, Huddersfield Civic Society

September 2026