Councillors gear up for further battle with Developers

Morley Councillors are again gearing up to campaign against the housing developer Persimmon, who are to lodge a formal planning application for 550 houses on a greenfield site at Laneside Farm in Churwell.  A previous outline planning application had been agreed with a limit of 250 houses to be built pending the provision of a new primary school for the Churwell area.

Councillor Robert Finnigan, who led the previous campaign said “It is clear that a development of this size will have a significant negative impact on local schools, roads and health centres as there is not the capacity to take this level of over-development.  This proposal will generate over 130 children to be accommodated at local primary schools which are already full.  Churwell Hill suffers from significant congestion at peak times and local residents presently struggle to get an appointment to see a G.P.  This development will make all of these problems worse.”

Persimmons were successful in getting the greenfield site rescheduled for earlier housing development when it was initially phased for housing after 2028.

Councillor Andrew Hutchison said “We will be getting briefed on this new application.  We will then be putting out a flyer to all residents to explain our concerns and calling a public meeting for residents to attend to let us know what they think about this large scale housing development.”