Chidswell Action Group

On the 8th of December, Kirklees Council Strategic Planning Committee approved Outline Planning Permission on Chidswell & Heybeck. This was in the knowledge the required surveys were out-of-date by Professional Standards; reports requested by a Statutory Consultee had not been provided; and the Biodiversity Net Gain figures provided were clearly flawed and biased. These are all Material Considerations in the Planning Process and Outline Planning Permission should not have been granted.

We are asking for your help to raise funds for a Legal Challenge against Kirklees Council following this decision.

Thanks to previous generous donations, we’ve already engaged a specialist Planning Barrister who has identified the areas where the Application does not comply with the National Policy Planning Framework, Kirklees Local Development Plan and The Environment Act 2021. We’ve also identified unaddressed Material Considerations and essential undisclosed information which is required before a Planning Decision can be made in accordance with the Council’s legal duties.

We wrote to the Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) members, the Planning Department and Leaders at Kirklees to highlight these issues and requested a deferral until all outstanding matters were addressed. The SPC voted to approve the Application despite the strong justification for Deferral until outstanding information was provided.

We’re asking for your support to raise £20,000 - this is to cover our own legal costs and a contingency if the Judge does not rule in our favour and we are liable for all costs. If we are successful, and don’t incur the legal costs, we would use any remaining funds to continue our challenge on the Application as a whole – there are still many points to be challenged through the planning process but only if we can quash the current decision which approves the Outline Application.

We can only do this with financial help from our Community and Supporters. We’ve had fantastic support in the past and we’re asking you once again if you can help us to fight to protect this precious area of land for our community, wildlife and future generations.

More information can be found at chidswellactiongroup

Please also like, follow and share our facebook group: @chidswellactiongroup; and follow us on Twitter: @ChidswellGroup