Committee to decide on second application for 146 homes on field

Caddick Land has already seen an application to build on green space to the South of Rooley Crescent refused by Bradford Council - with a follow-up appeal dismissed by a planning inspector.

But the company has submitted a second application for 146 homes on the site, and that application will go before the Council’s Regulatory and Appeals Committee next Thursday.

Almost 170 people have written to the Council objecting to the plans, and two petitions opposing the scheme have also been submitted - one signed by 33 people and another signed by 137.

However, planning officers have recommended that the committee approves the application.

One major concern about the initial application was that it could scupper proposals for a Park and Ride scheme in the area.

There are plans for a new South Bradford Park and Ride, which would see people parking in a large car park off the M606 and travelling into the city centre by a shuttle bus.

Council officers had questioned whether this development would “sterilise” plans for the park and ride -the exact location of which is yet to be revealed - as it would require a shared access road to the traffic scheme.

Appeal that would have allowed 146 homes to be built on field near M606 is dismissed

At the time of the first application there was no funding identified for the Park and Ride scheme.

But last March Bradford was awarded millions through the Transforming Cities Fund - part of the West Yorkshire Devolution Deal. One scheme that would get funding was the South Bradford Park and Ride.

A report by planning officers into the latest application says this conflict between the housing plans and the park and ride seems to have been resolved.

It says: “The design of the layout of the development has provided the opportunity for an access to be created that will preserve the route to the allocated Park and Ride Scheme site and will provide a road to the constructional specifications that will enable it to serve both the Park and Ride Scheme and the proposed residential development.”

It says that if approved Caddick would “construct a road to a constructional specification required by the Council to serve the proposed Park and Ride Scheme.”

Because of the extra cost of constructing this road - planning officers will agree to reduce the amount of affordable housing required on site from 20 per cent to five per cent (seven houses).

The report points out that while Caddick’s planning appeal was refused - the planning inspector had not agreed with the reasons of refusal provided by the Council - highway safety concerns, poor public transport links to the site and the dangers of contamination. The inspector refused the plans due to concerns over how affordable housing and adequate drainage would be provided.

Planning officers had also recommended the first application be approved - but members of the committee had sided with objectors when they refused the plans in March 2020.

With the latest application objectors have again raised concerns over the development’s impact on highways, local services like schools and doctors and the loss of green space.

They once again urge the Council to refuse the plans, claiming the Council had "bent over backwards" to support Caddick's plans for the site.

One objector said the area would resemble a "concrete jungle" if the houses were built, and another pointed out that Pandemic had meant green spaces were now more valuable to residents than ever.

One objectors suggests the houses should be built on the site of Richard Dunn Leisure Centre. Referring to this objection, the report says: "A Developer cannot be made to develop one site in preference to another."

Another objection criticises the fact that the application was submitted during the pandemic. The report responds; "An applicant cannot be stopped submitting an application simply because of the pandemic."

The committee meets in Bradford City Hall at 10am next Thursday.