Leeds City Council have received an application for the development of Silverdale Allotments with 46 houses, from Stonebridge Homes Ltd, on behalf of some of the allotment holders.   Full details are here in the planning application 17/01262/FU.

Comments/approvals/objections need to be in to Leeds City Council by 28th April 2017.

For background,  you will find what Leeds City Council propose in their Site Allocation Plan (SAP) for the allotments here – page 19,  where half the site would be laid out for allotment use, with a maximum of 32 houses.  This is the result of community and some allotment holder consultation.

The planning application has been made before the Site Allocation Plan has been approved by an Inspector, because Leeds does not have a 5 year land supply for its ambitious 70,000 housing target up to 2028, and so there is a presumption in law that all development is sustainable, unless it is outweighed by ‘harm’ caused.   Leeds are therefore now receiving many speculative applications for development such as this.

NB – Earlier we said that the plan included allotments that the owners did not want to sell.  Brian Firth has let us know “The proposed layout of housing as shown in the diagram only includes land that the developer already had an option on.“.