High Court to review Kirklees Council’s decision to greenlight controversial new homes plan near Dewsbury
Permission for a judicial review into Kirklees Council’s decision to approve controversial plans for new homes near Dewsbury has been granted.
The authority’s strategic planning committee granted outline planning permission for the development of around 1,500 homes at Chidswell and Heybeck in December 2022.
The development is split across two sites, with the larger Leeds Road site earmarked for up to 1,354 homes, employment development of up to 35 hectares, a new primary school and a local centre.
The smaller site at Heybeck Lane is set for up to 181 properties.
Approval came despite more than 1,000 objections, with members of the Chidswell Action Group (CAG) raising countless points of concern over issues such as the quality of the land, reliability of some supporting documents submitted by the applicant, and the impact on protected wildlife species residing in the area.
Now, the High Court has granted permission for a judicial review into the way the decision was made in relation to the outline planning permission at the Heybeck site.
CAG has been working to raise funds to cover legal fees and provided an update on the GoFundMe page reading: “Only a small percentage of judicial review applications are granted permission to proceed.
“Even more encouraging, the judge’s decision has gone in our favour on the smaller Heybeck site. Heybeck does not have the additional protections afforded to the huge Chidswell site.
"This gives us confidence we can also challenge Chidswell when the time comes. All our grounds on Heybeck also apply to Chidswell.”
A Kirklees Council spokesperson said no comment could be provided due to the ongoing legal proceedings.