Major Leeds housing plan concerns

The Miller Homes Group is planning to build 179 new homes and community spaces at Pitty Close Farm in Drighlington.

The spaces are to include an equipped play area and various green spaces for outdoor play and to run through the site.

The site was initially safeguarded by Leeds City Council’s Local Plan in 2005, when it was deemed to be suitable for housing after 2016.

A public consultation into the plans ended on Wednesday.

Councillor for Morley North Robert Finnigan said: “It’s a valuable greenfield site that’s not sustainable for development.

“It’s a speculative application to exploit it. The developer knows there’s a large profit in ripping it up.”

He added: “It will overwhelm the village with traffic, have a huge impact on the local primary school and provide highway challenges on King Street.

“It should be brownfield sites that should be being developed.”

A spokesman for Miller Homes said: “We were encouraged by the number of people who registered an interest in a new home at the site, showing a clear need for new housing.

“As one of the fastest growing regions in the UK, Leeds City Council has set a target of building 70,000 new homes across the region before 2028 to meet growing demand. To help achieve this target, the Council released land at Pitty Close Farm from the Green Belt to allow for future residential development at this site.”

Miller Homes is to formally submit plans for the development this week.