Anger over repeat application for 770 homes in Leeds

Residents on Dunningley Lane Tingley, fear for there countryside as hundreds of houses are proposed to be built on the land..Coun Jack Dunn is pictured with residents Sarah Chilvers with her children Kingsley aged 5 and Ramone aged 2, and Lesley Griffin with her Granddaughter Eva Riley aged 4..1001448a..10th June 2014 ..Picture by Simon Hulme

A developer has been criticised after making a repeat application to build 770 homes in Leeds '“ while an appeal process is still underway into an identical plan lodged last year.

The Sir Robert Ogden Partnership wants to create an estate and a convenience shop at the former Tingley Station site off Dunningley Lane.

Coun Jack Dunn is now urging residents who made objections to the last set of proposals to re-submit them, because they will not be automatically carried over.

He said: “This land is a place of natural beauty. You get off the road and it’s like being in the Yorkshire Dales.

“There are all types of wildlife down there.

“It should be left as a green lung.

“It absorbs pollution. If they build, it’s going to take all that away.

“There are no schools, no doctor’s surgeries. They’re hoping to put one small store on there. To me, it’s just a no-goer.”

The developer had appealed to the Planning Inspectorate over its previous plan, which was lodged in September, because Leeds City Council had not made a decision within the usual timeframe.

Coun Dunn (Lab, Ardsley and Robin Hood) said: “It’s jumping the gun and jumping over the top of the council.

“They’re trying it on. I want to gee up people in the local community who haven’t already objected, to do that.”

A spokesman for the Sir Robert Ogden Partnership said:

“The applicant has followed the statutory process of appealing the proposals when the application has not been determined within the specified time period.

“A second application has been lodged with the Council to allow negotiations to continue on the scheme in a collaborative manner in order to avoid the need for the appeal if at all possible.”