Surplus Hebden Bridge and Todmorden land to be sold for housing
CALDERDALE Council will sell off surplus land to help provide much needed affordable housing for the district.
Members of the Cabinet committee have agreed to sell off four plots of land to Pennine Housing 2000.
They are at Swan Place, Todmorden (next to the former Swan With Two Necks pub), Foster Lane, Hebden Bridge, Sycamore Drive, Brighouse and Warley Wood Lane Garage Site, Luddenden Foot.
Meanwhile, the Cabinet also agreed to consult Calder Valley Ward councillors over the sale of a number of further plots of land including at Commercial Street and Heptonstall Road, Hebden Bridge.
The land has been deemed surplus to operational requirements by the Council. By selling the land to a social landlord it means the sites, subject to planning permission, can be used to provide affordable housing. Such a scheme could attract up to 750,000 in social housing grants.
Councillor Amanda Byrne, portfolio holder for community services, said the plots of land were all in areas where there was a high demand for affordable housing.
"By selling this land to Pennine Housing 2000, the council could be helping to provide 15 affordable homes in areas where there is a real need. Calderdale Council has placed a high priority on working with partners to provide such homes.
"We will continue to look at other ways of providing this type of housing across the borough to meet the needs of the local community."
Councillors will also decide whether a further 16 plots of surplus land across Calderdale should be sold off at auction.
Calder ward Liberal Democrat Coun Janet Battye has sounded a note of caution about the sales. She welcomed Cabinet's agreement to consult ward councillors over sales and said she contrasted this with the "disastrous auction" of the Pitt Street Adult Education Centre in Hebden Bridge.
"People were quite rightly very upset when the Conservative cabinet did not listen to their views and sold Pitt Street. We're determined that this won't happen again. Building affordable housing is really important but the council must make sure that it consults local people over its plans, and listens to their views," she said.
Coun Battye said she had concerns over some of the sites. They is land at Foster Lane - which has previously been considered for affordable housing - but also in Commercial Street, and Heptonstall Road, all in Hebden Bridge, and the site at Swan Yard, next to the former Swan With Two Necks pub in Halifax Road, Todmorden.
In relation to the sites at Commercial Street and Heptonstall Road she said: "Both of these sites are steeply sloping on busy roads and the issue of access will be crucial. None of these sites has planning permission so these developments can’t go ahead anyway until that’s sorted out.”
And referring to the site already agreed for sale at Swan Yard in Todmorden, she was concerned about what would happen to the garages on the site and said careful consideration needed to be given to parking and traffic issues on this stretch of Halifax Road.
Coun Byrne said she was not sure why Coun Battye would want to take a swipe at the Cabinet over releasing land for affordable housing - something which had all party support.
The agreement to release the land had been made subject to further consultation with ward councillors. Any concerns would be addressed before they went back to Cabinet for approval.
With regard to the garage site at Swan Yard, this would be an operational matter but if there were concerns talks would be ongoing, she said.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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