Thousands of homes are planned for Brighouse and east Calderdale
New homes have been approved for Rastrick
Approval this week for new housing at Rastrick is the latest application which could eventually see thousands of new homes built at the east end of Calderdale.
Planning councillors approval of Gleeson Homes and Thornhill Estate Ltd’s plans to build 81 houses on land near Toothill Bank is one of a number that have come forward in the last two years, some decided and others awaiting a decision.
The context of the applications is the adoption by councillors three years ago of Calderdale’s Local Plan – a document setting out where thousands of new homes, and also businesses, might be built into the 2030s.
Long in development, national Government all local authorities have to produce a Local Plan.
Calderdale’s underwent a lengthy consultation and then inquiry process, before being signed off by the Government-appointed Planning Inspector Katie Child.
The process has been controversial, particularly at the east end of Calderdale where sites for a lion’s share of the new homes are earmarked, with critics raising questions about the amount of new homes which will actually be needed and where they are being sited in the right places.
Calderdale Council says the numbers are needed to attract new families into the borough, which has an ageing population.
One proposal in the Local Plan is the development of around 3,000 homes in two Garden Communities near Brighouse, at Thornhills and Woodhouse, which will impact the village of Clifton.
The Garden Communities have been controversial and are opposed by some residents, including through the Local Plan examination process itself.
In spring 2024, plans for more than 300 new homes on land to the west of Highmoor lane, Clifton, as a first phase at Thornhills were submitted to Calderdale planners by Bellway Homes and Malcolm and Melvyn Bretton – the application has still to be decided.
A number of other east Calderdale applications have also gone in to planning.
A 26-home plan – “100 per cent affordable” was permitted for developers Holcombe at land off Bowling Alley, Rastrick, in July 2024.
Proposals for 39 new homes for social and affordable rent – for social housing organisation Together Housing Association – were approved last summer for a site at Field Lane, Rastrick.
Major development is in the works for Hipperholme, another community close to Brighouse, particularly on the former Crosslee factory site on Brighouse Road.
In 2024, Barratt Homes in conjunction with Torsion Care were given permission to develop 172 homes and a 72-bed care home on part of the Crosslee site.
Plans for 65 new homes on part of the site were submitted by Crosslee Properties last November, of which 16 are planned to be “affordable” – the application has stll to be determined.
Also in the Crosslee picture, Lidl have a 2024 application still be determined for a store on part of the site.
In nearby Elland, Avant Homes (North Yorkshire) and J. S. Morton and Sons were given permissions, at different stages, last summer to build more than 400 new homes on land north and south of Exley Lane.
Just up the road from Hipperholme, applications to build new homes in and around the village of Shelf have also been put to planners.
Permission was given last year for Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes (Yorkshire West)’s proposals to build 288 homes at Wade House Road, Shelf, of which 60 will be “affordable”.
.Developer Persimmon have an application still to be determined for 104 homes at Soaper Lane, Shelf.
And Chartford Developments Ltd and Joe Bottomley Ventures plans to build 30 homes, around a third “affordable” at the former Clough Mills site at Halifax Road, Shelf, are also still to be determined.
These are some of the larger applications in.
Calderdale’s Local Plan itself is due for scheduled review next year.