Discovery of ancient Bronze Age burial at Mirfield housing site could spark ‘lengthy delays’

Bellway Homes has submitted five bids in as many decades over a field off Woodward Court, with each one until now either refused or withdrawn.

Campaigners, raising fears over traffic, claim it would create a “dangerous bottleneck”, but developers argue amendments and a second exit would ease any woes.

Now, with a new report from the West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service (WYAAS), it appears the field might be subject to a different kind of scrutiny – featuring ancient remains.

Planners have been told Balderstone Fields contains “significant heritage assets”, with recommendations that a full archaeological excavation is needed.

There is at least one Bronze Age cremation burial here, findings suggest, with the possibility of more, and mapping ancient field systems must be a “priority”.

But they remain “highly vulnerable” to ground disturbance, experts claim, which could disrupt drilling and filling works by developers to stabilise the old coal mining site.

Bellway has said these kinds of findings are not unusual and can usually be accommodated by planning conditions.

But village campaigners at the Save Mirfield group believe it could mean major delays.

Group chair Cheryl Tyler: “It's a Catch 22 – this could delay the mine works until it’s excavated fully.

“I’m no archaeologist, but if it’s a full-scale excavation, it will probably take ages. It won’t be just ‘a week or two’.”

The plans, submitted to Kirklees Council, would see 75 new homes on a 4.7 hectare site. The land was previously safeguarded in the council’s Local Plan, meaning it was deemed acceptable for housing but no development would take place until at least 2031.

But with Kirklees Council now unable to prove a five-year housing supply, sites such as this can be considered for “sustainable” development.

Bellway has said this changes the planning landscape - and its development would meet critical need with an acute shortage of housing.

Earlier this year, the Coal Authority lodged a “substantive concern”, stressing the field is likely to have seen unrecorded coal mining and with work needed to stabilise it.

Now WYAAS says the plans have the potential to “completely damage and obliterate the surviving archaeology”, its report warns, asking for a “strictly controlled” timetable if plans are passed: “These features remain highly vulnerable to any subsequent ground disturbance.”

In a statement, Bellway said: “The concerns raised by West Yorkshire Archaeology Service are not unusual for new development of this nature, and their request is one we regularly accommodate as part of the planning process.

“This can be dealt with via a planning condition prior to works starting on site should permission be granted.”