Parish councillors claim new homes will swamp services

Developer Taylor Wimpey has already been granted outline permission for the homes on land south of Queen Street at Allerton Bywater.

Leeds City councillors are now being asked what they think of the layout, scale, appearance and landscaping of the proposed 120-home development.

Objectors, including members of the Great and Little Preston Parish Council, have objected to the plans, saying that brownfield sites should be developed before greenfield ones.

Critics among nearby residents say the housing will affect the character of the village, increase traffic and ruin views.

The parish council has told Leeds Council that the local infrastructure is already “overwhelmed” and that junior and infant schools at Allerton Bywater and Great Preston are full.

A report by the city council states that the principle of residential development of the site has already been established by outline planning permission which was granted by a planning inspector after an appeal.

City councillors will be asked for their views on several aspects of the plans, including the proposed sizes of the gardens, some of which are not considered acceptable.

The council says road improvements will ensure that safety is taken into consideration.

The report says: “Comments from the Parish Council refer to the impact they consider the development will have on the wider local road network, particularly in respect of roads in the area considered to be dangerous or high risk.

“In this connection it is acknowledged that the highway safety issues on the roads highlighted by the Parish Council is a serious matter and the lengths of the road and sites specified are monitored by the relevant authority with remedial measures undertaken as necessary. However the impact of this development on these lengths/sites is negligible and certainly less than natural day to day variations in traffic flows.”

Members of the Leeds plans panel east will comment on the plans at a meeting at Civic Hall in Leeds on Thursday, October 6.

Councillors will also be asked to comment on a further 79 homes, also off Queen Street, being proposed by developer Hargreaves Management and Estate Services Ltd.

The site is brownfield but is bounded on three sides by areas of designated green belt land.

The applicant had originally wanted to build 88 units, which would have included three blocks of flats but the flats element has now been dropped because of market conditions.

Members of Allerton Bywater Parish Council are opposing the development, which has been submitted in outline form.

The parish council says the development, coupled with the proposal for 120 homes nearby, will lead to too much traffic on local roads.

“They also objected on grounds of the lack of sufficient infrastructures to support the development with regard to school places and doctors’ surgeries,” according to a Leeds Council report.

The report concludes that the site is appropriate for such a development.

“The proposed development is to a brownfield site and therefore, subject to other planning considerations being met, is considered appropriate in principle for residential development.

“The most recent guidance has removed a prescriptive minimum figure for housing density in favour of development reflecting local character and surroundings.”

Councillors will be asked what they think about layout, landscaping, appearance, potential for flooding and access issues.

The council says the lack of a doctors’ surgery within the village is not a sufficient reason to refuse planning permission.