Town council not happy with cash windfall plans
Developers Taylor Wimpey are set to enter a planning application with the council to build 166 houses in Mirfield Moor, and a draft report is said to show the developers have agreed to pay £1m to cash-strapped Kirklees’ coffers.
According to a leaked report this week, around £600,000 of the money would go towards funding places at Mirfield Free Grammar and Old Bank schools, with the rest going towards road improvements.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdAt a Mirfield Town Council meeting on Tuesday, councillors reacted angrily to the report, suggesting the council could have held out for more.
Mayor of Mirfield Vivien Lees Hamilton said: “It does not matter how much money they throw at the schools, it will not improve the infrastructure of the town.
“Kirklees could have held out for £4m from Taylor Wimpy, but have settled for just 25 percent of that. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry – or both.”
Coun David Pinder commented on the fact that the plan would be a mix of homes and industrial uses.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdHe said: “One of the things we keep hearing is that there is a shortage of industrial space in West Yorkshire.
“This is wrong – a recent CBI survey said that West Yorkshire had more disused industrial estates than any other part of the country!”
As part of planning applications, councils can ask a developer to put money towards local infrastructure such as roads and schools, known as a Section 106 agreements.
Keith Andrews, from protest group Save Mirfield, said: “The infrastructure around here is creaking. It is the same old Kirklees – they will do their own thing and we are just an irritation to them.”
The next meeting iof the Heavy Woollen Planning Sub-committee is on October 2.