Chris Went writes:
Concerns have been raised that part of the grazing land at Weaver’s Hill may again be under threat of development. The land, which is part of the green belt, abuts the lane to Oxenhope which, associated with Charlotte Brontë’s meetings with Arthur Bell Nicholls, is known locally as Charlotte’s Path.
Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s planning department has flagged the land as being potentially available for new housing as part of the Local Development Framework, but because it is green belt, any such use would only be permitted when all other possible sites had been exhausted. Furthermore, land allocations under the LDF are still far from being finalised.
Concerns have been raised that part of the grazing land at Weaver’s Hill may again be under threat of development. The land, which is part of the green belt, abuts the lane to Oxenhope which, associated with Charlotte Brontë’s meetings with Arthur Bell Nicholls, is known locally as Charlotte’s Path.
Bradford Metropolitan District Council’s planning department has flagged the land as being potentially available for new housing as part of the Local Development Framework, but because it is green belt, any such use would only be permitted when all other possible sites had been exhausted. Furthermore, land allocations under the LDF are still far from being finalised.
Recent newspaper reports suggest that the owner of the
grazing land, whose application for development in 2008 was withdrawn, will
shortly submit a revised application for planning permission for 120
homes. Should this be successful,
he would then launch a second phase of development involving a further 200
houses.
The Brontë Society fully supports Haworth’s prevalent view
that green belt land must remain green.
Large numbers of new houses in this part of the village would have an
extremely detrimental effect on its setting and would bring inappropriate
development disturbingly close to the moorland fringes. The local economy is
founded on heritage tourism.
Anything which may undermine that economy must be examined closely and,
if necessary, strongly rejected.
3 comments:
This is criminal. Why why why? There are so many parts of Bradford in need of Brownfield development that could be made attractive to potential homeowners. There is absolutely no need to encroach upon the beautiful green belt land around Haworth. It is one of the few tourism gems in Bradford's area; it would therefore be economically foolhardy, as well as unfair to existing residents who bought into the peace and beauty of 'green' Haworth, to damage this.
It's not just loss of greenspace which is terrible. There are also significant concerns that continued development of land such as this has a hugely detrimental impact further down the valley. Greenbelt lamd such as this is beautiful but also valuable soakaway protecting properties further down the village from flooding through excessive run off. This development would put everyone living beneath it at a great risk of flooding from surface water run off. This is in addition to loss of habitat, destruction of greenspace etc. Damage of this kind cannot be undone and we do not want a repeat of 2004 or the recent Hebden Bridge incidents ( which were magnified by poor soakaway in steep sided valleys such as ours). This development needs to be prevented.
Surely anything would be better than the untidy and unkempt allotments which spoil the views even more?
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