Northowram: more houses will badly damage local life

25 March 2022

Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party, met local residents living on Windmill Drive in Northowram, where Calderdale Council are proposing to allocate land for housing despite residents raising concerns about the damage it will cause to their environment.

Martin said: ‘We’ve had a great reception from residents on the estate. However, everyone is very worried that the new development will badly damage local life. Traffic to the new housing will either have to come up the cobbles on The Hough, or squeeze through Towngate with all the other vehicles. This isn’t sustainable.’

‘The risk of increased flooding in Shibden can’t be discounted either, with the potential for water to pour off the estate into the Valley below.’

Carla said, ‘I hear that development is going to take place on a site that is poorly served by public transport and home to a rich variety of wildlife including protected species. Yes we need more housing but this is clearly not a suitable place for it.’

This campaign to stop unsuitable building in our area comes as a new report confirmed that low living standards in West Yorkshire are caused by building houses well away from town centres and an incredibly weak public transport network. Development in our area will only make these problems worse.