Open spaces could end up being built on

Proposals include building 161 homes on privately-owned Haworth Park playing fields off Stanbury Road, where amateur rugby league is played.

Councillors next week will discuss seven sites, identified as open spaces, which could end up being developed after 2019 for as many as 642 houses, as part of the city’s local plan.

Another 148 could go on land to the south of Oakfield School, off Wingfield Road; 86 could be built on the former sports ground south of Goddard Avenue and another 86 on former playing fields, Derringham North, off Coronation Road.

An open area used by the public south of Westwood Close, Woodleigh Drive, could end up with 84 houses while there are also plans to put 34 houses on a play area north of Green Way primary school on Orchard Park estate. The final site, down for 43 houses, is off Barra Close, Gleneagles Park, and is also used by the public.

The sites are among 189 which the council believes could be developed for over 14,000 homes between 2014 and 2030.

They own several but others have put forward by landowners and developers.

Under the Government’s planning reforms, councils have to identify a five years and beyond supply of deliverable sites.

Bricknell ward councillor John Fareham said of the Goddard site he’d listen to the arguments, but added: “This is an open space valued by nature lovers and conservationists and should remain so. There’s very little open space that’s publicly accessible nearby. The current system is a developers’ charter which takes no account of society.”

Chairman of the planning committee Coun Sean Chaytor said: “We were led to believe that Sports England would not be supportive of building on currently used football or rugby grounds, so some of these sites, including Haworth Park, have come as a surprise. The city is growing and there’s pressure on land, but we need to strike a balance between providing homes and having enough open space.”

The report being discussed on December 15 says councillors will have to decide whether to keep the sites as open spaces or for housing. But it warns that if they don’t agree to the list of sites it could cause a delay in the preparation of the local plan.

Planning manager Alex Codd said: “We have got a tight boundary and we have to meet housing needs, open space needs and employment needs and this ultimately means you have a difficult situation where you have potentially two or three uses people want to see on a site but the plan can ultimately only go with one.

“The key issue is when we come forward with our preferred options next May and June we have to make sure we are allocating enough housing sites to meet housing needs.”

It comes after The Yorkshire Post revealed that of the 4,000 homes the council has teamed up with a consortium to develop on its land in the next 13 years, the majority will be on greenfield sites.

Hundreds could be built on fields on the outskirts of Cottingham, a move ward councillors warned could lead to “rioting in the streets.”