Aireborough Grapevine 2

· by · in General News and Events. ·

A variety of things to update you on this month

Aireborough Neighbourhood Plan Moves to the Next Stage of Policy Making

We have now reached the stage where our Neighbourhood Plan evidence base is complete eg Landscape Value, Urban Character, Ecology, and we are moving on the policy making to solve local issues and make the most of the opportunities.   We will now be forming teams around the different themes in the ANDF vision for the area.   If you’d like to be part of one of the teams because of a particular interest or skill we would be very pleased to have you.  Email Liz Kirkpatrick on aireboroughnp@gmail.com.   You will find the latest ANDF minutes talking about this move to the next phase here, together with all future Neighbourhood Forum Team Meetings.

Leeds Site Allocation Plan Hearing is Planned for October 2017

The Leeds Site Allocation Plan Consultation for Changes finished at the end of March, (the ANDF response is here) within the same week the LCC Executive signed of the Site Allocation Plan Submission Draft 2012 – 2028, as sound so that it could be sent to the Department of Communities and Local Government in order for an Inspector to be appointed to examine the SAP and conduct a public hearing.   We understand the Leeds SAP was sent to DCLG on 5th May 2017, and Planning Inspectors Claire Sherratt and Louise Gibbons have been appointed.  The hearing for the SAP is expected to be in October.   LCC have provided a webpage for updates, you will find that here.  The ANDF will be presenting evidence from the Neighbourhood Plan at the hearing.

Bradford Local Plan Core Strategy is Taken Off Pause – Green Belt Deletions Not Agreed

In October 2016 the Bradford Core Strategy was paused by the Housing and Planning Minister owing to the amount of Green Belt that it was planning to delete for development purposes in Wharfedale.   The Bradford Plan was released by the Minister in early April 2017.  A key part the Minister’s letter to Bradford said that  “In removing the holding direction the Secretary of State is not accepting that the exceptional circumstances exist to justify the amendment of any specific green belt boundaries”.  To date the Bradford Core Strategy has still not been adopted.  This is important to Aireborough because of the 4000, house planned between Guiseley and Ilkley and the cross-border issues between Leeds and Bradford  where there has been a lack of Duty to Co-operate in the opinion of many – especially when LCC actually complained to BMDC about the amount of green belt being used on the border between Leeds and Bradford.

Leeds City Region Groups Join Forces to Challenge Changes to Green-Belt 

The Yorkshire Greenspace Alliance is a group of people from all over West Yorkshire who have united forces to challenge the NEED for Local Authorities in the Leeds City Region eg Leeds and Bradford, to fundamentally alter the Green Belt. They are currently raising funds to hire legal help with this challenge.

If the plans of the various areas are accepted by Planning Inspectors in 2017/18 then this fundamental ssafeguard against urban sprawl will be destroyed. Green belts were adopted in the 1940s, and designed around the largest cities to ensure the wellbeing of people and wild life corridors, whilst at the same time encouraging urban regeneration. There are only 14 green belts in the country that cover 12.4% of land, but they serve as the immediate countryside for 30 million people.

Green Belts are supposed to have the strongest protection, but Governments have subtly relaxed this protection in the last decade and that has allowed local authorities and developers to ‘make hay’ on what is highly valuable and valued land, instead of regenerating decaying urban areas.

The Campaign for the Protection of Rural England has championed the green belt, along with other countryside conservation measures since 1926. The new group is an associate of CPRE.  You find the latest CPRE video on Green Belt here – they too are running a national campaign to save this precious asset for the future.

Leeds City Council Review Their 70,000 Housing Target

As reported in previous posts LCC are reviewing their 70,000 housing target, with the plan of having a new number for the SAP hearings in October.  The ANDF is a member of the team.  During May a number of households will receive a questionnaire in order to feed information on housing need in Aireborough to the housing review.  Please fill it in if you get one.  If you don’t you can still do the survey here.  It is most important that we have an accurate figures on housing needs for Aireborough.  The ANDF has done its own survey, so this will be a double check.

Urban Character Study

The Consultants working on this project have now handed in a draft, and it is being finalised.  We’d like to thank all those who contributed money, time and input to this project.  A film from the project is here.

Leeds Bradford Airport Releases its Masterplan

LBA has now released its Masterplan – Route to 2030 . Meanwhile, ‘discussion’ about the LBA transport strategy goes on.  The ANDF has asked for an update on all of LCC’s transport plans for Aireborough.

South Pennines Ancient Woodland Project

The fieldwork and desk research on this project which looked at Calf Hole Wood and Deep Carr Wood is now completed, and a final report is being prepared.   We were fascinated to find that the woodland was probably the one mentioned in Domesday Book as a Coppice Wood, and that during the 19th century it was part of a Landscape Estate belonging firstly, to Bradford Quaker Family John Hustler, who planted a lot of the Chevin woodland such as Yorkgate Plantation, Novia Plantation and Mount Pisgah; secondly to Wigan MP and and High Sheriff of Lancashire Nathaniel Eckersley who expanded the estate and built many of the farms around Carlton Lane and Wills Gill. Both men were big on philanthropy.   In the 1920’s the woods belonged to another local philanthropic team Frank and Albert Parkinson.  With this background and the number of ancient wood indicators found in the ecology survey we do feel the area should have a programme of conservation and be considered special landscape.

Help Needed at Summer Events

We will soon be taking our pop-up urban room out to summer events to talk about the Neighbourhood Plan,  if you can help at the Guiseley Summer Market on 25 June for an hour or so, please contact Richard Webster on aireboroughnp@gmail.com.  Alternatively if you can donate a tombola prize for our fundraising efforts, then also let Richard know.

You fill find a lot of the day to day updates on aspects of Aireborough that affect the Neighbourhood Plan on Facebook page Aireborough Voice.  We also use the page for news and announcements on work by local voluntary groups and community events.