This is a copy of the speech that I would have delivered at the Council meeting on the 12th of October when we discussed the local plan, but decided not to after been goaded by one of the Tory opposition to respond to his remarks.
Mr Mayor
Thank you
I rise this evening to
support this plan.
It would be impossible to
have a local plan that was perfect as we all have a different idea of what we
want from the plan and where we would like it to be.
However this plan does meet
all the technical requirements placed on us by Government.
Which is vital as the one
thing that we can’t afford to do this evening is to fail to agree a plan.
If we can’t deliver a plan
that meets the government’s requirements then we will have failed our residents
by passing control of our economic strategy and housing needs to a bunch of
faceless Whitehall civil servants and ministers
I don’t believe that civil
servants based in London will act in the best interests of the residents of
Kirklees as I believe they are more likely to listen to large developers, and
landowners who as we know simply want to develop sites that are easy and cheap
to develop and from past experience are likely to greenbelt.
This plan does protect as far
as is possible the green belt and places the majority of land allocated for
housing in areas where we believe it is most needed.
It is simply not possible to
protect all the greenbelt if we are to provide the amount of land allocation
for homes the government say we need but this plan protects the green belt far
better than not having a plan.
I do have some concerns about
some sites in my own ward one of which is the site that has been added since
the last round of public consultations and that is the site in Clayton west for
housing on what is currently the site for Adare.
Adare is a highly successful
printing company and is at the cutting edge of security printing and has a
highly skilled local workforce.
I have discussed this issue
with officers who have assured me that they are doing all they can to ensure
that these jobs are not lost to Kirklees and clayton west and that the site is
not lost as a manufacturing site and replaced by a potential site for housing,
and I would urge officers to maintain a dialogue with Adare to protect these
much needed jobs.
I share residents’ concerns
about the potential scale of the proposed mineral extraction in Birdshedge and
intend to speak with officers in the coming weeks to clarify the rules on
mineral extraction as I believe that local residents will have some questions
on this that they would like answering.
I am pleased that officers have clearly taken
notice of residents’ concerns following the public consultation and modified
the plan to remove some of the sites that where not suitable.
Should we accept this plan
tonight its worth pointing out that the public and elected members will have
the opportunity to make representation to the inspector at the public examination
of the plan next year.
Finally I would hope that
Council will agree this plan and allow us to shape the Kirklees of the future
and not Whitehall.
