151 new homes planned for city canalside site despite major wildlife concerns

Councillors have been recommended to approve plans to build 151 canalside homes despite environmental concerns.

The proposals for the scheme next to the Aire and Calder Navigation form part of the wider Wakefield City Fields development.

This application is the fourth in a series aimed at delivering housing on land owned by Wakefield Council.

The local authority owns around 60 of 375 acres of land earmarked for development at City Fields.

A new suburb of around 2,500 homes is expected when the major expansion to the east of the city is completed.

If the scheme is approved, the council would sell the site to a developer to complete the project.

A range of one to four-bedroom homes are proposed, along with four vehicle access routes to the seven-hectare site.

Car parking, garages, drainage infrastructure, pedestrian and cycles access, a new public open space and landscaping are also planned to serve future residents.

Five objections to the scheme have been submitted, with residents citing concerns over the loss of wildlife habitats and the impact on nearby nature reserves, including the Southern Washlands and Stanley Ferry Flash.

Objectors also said the scheme would add pressure to local road networks and that there was a lack of essential infrastructure and services in the area to accommodate more homes.

Yubi Ayub, councillor for Wakefield East ward, said residents had “repeatedly raised concerns about the increasing loss of green space, the continued absence of promised local facilities and the growing pressure on roads and other infrastructure.”

Coun Ayub also said an independent ecologist had concluded that the development “could cause ecological harm at a county level.”

No comments of support for the application were submitted.

A report said any developer would be required to make a Biodiversity Net Gain financial contribution of £956,500 to compensate for the loss of habitat units.

Further payments would also be required to provide more primary and secondary education places in the area and to support sustainable transport.

A planning officer’s report said: “The proposed development is considered to be acceptable in principle and, subject to the imposition of planning conditions, there are considered to be no technical reasons to withhold planning permission.”

The council’s planning and highways committee is expected to determine the application at a meeting on October 15.