Amazon plan: Council is 'silent' on concerns, says Save Our Spen campaigners

Save Our Spen is working through hundreds of documents relating to the controversial scheme, which is earmarked for 59 acres of fields between Whitehall Road and Whitechapel Road on the outskirts of Cleckheaton.

The group says the documents, including emails from staff at Kirklees Council, have thrown up even more questions that require urgent answers before the application comes before the strategic planning committee, which could be later in the summer.

But approaches to the planning department have apparently “hit a brick wall” with officers posting on social media about “high workloads within the department”.

That has left Save Our Spen and other local objectors feeling even more worried about the direction of the mammoth scheme.

A spokesman said: “Save Our Spen have real concerns regarding the lack of response to the valid issues we have been raising with Kirklees’ planning department.

"The lines of communication we once had have now ended. Whether this is deliberate on the part of the council or due to staffing and workload issues, we do not know.

"However, we would encourage Kirklees Council to make every effort to re-engage and provide the answers the local community are seeking.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service contacted Kirklees Council and asked for a comment on the group’s concerns, which have been heightened since the departure in May of Kate Mansell, who was the authority’s senior planner handling the project and Save Our Spen’s primary contact.

Coun Graham Turner, the council’s cabinet member for growth and regeneration, said: “We try to respond to everyone who contacts us about ongoing projects.

"All the planning application details and comments are available to view online, on the council’s planning web pages.

“However, where anyone raises comments about live planning applications, the process is for these comments to be assessed by the strategic planning committee while they’re making a decision on the application in question.

"In these cases, we can’t respond on an individual basis with any detail beforehand.

“When that decision is made, any issues raised by our residents will absolutely be taken into account in the committee reports when they’re published.”

It is now more than a year since the Amazon project was revealed.

The enormous building will be a third of a kilometre long, 178m wide and 23m high, and could provide up to 2,400 jobs.

However, it has been criticised as “totally inappropriate” for the area by councillors.

Batley and Spen MP Kim Leadbeater has also voiced her strong opposition, describing the building as “too big, too polluting, too damaging” and that it would put “intolerable pressure” on already overloaded local roads.