SHEDS £250
F R O M
VERTICAL BLINDS
SHEDS, SUMMER HOUSES PLAY HOUSES, GARAGES, ARTIFICIAL GRASS
3 FOR
£89 SALE 046 1502
Tel: 0800
Opposite Screwfix, 2 min from IKEA, WF17 9LX
TEL: 01924 720970
01274 305 410
ONE PAPER ... ALL THE NEWS from Dewsbury, Batley, Ossett, Mirfield, Liversedge, Birstall, Heckmondwike, Cleckheaton & Spen Valley
Friday October 14, 2016
12 MONTHS
No. 759
GUARANTEE
50p
YES TO HOMES PLANS Jeremy Corbyn MP and Tracy Brabin at Batley Railway Station yesterday (Thurs)
Corbyn in town to battle for Brabin and health service JEREMY CORBYN made a visit to Batley yesterday (Thurs) to talk about the impending downgrade of Dewsbury District Hospital with locals. The Labour leader met with members of the Friends of Batley Railway Station group, together with Batley & Spen candidate Tracy Brabin and Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff to discuss residents’ worries. He took questions from the group and re-assured
them that he would work with the government to try and find a resolution to the current crisis in the NHS. He said: “I am concerned by what I have heard here from Paula (Sherriff) and others. “It is all about coming together to defend the NHS. “Myself and Paula are going to discuss this in parliament and Tracey will be joining us very soon and we will all work very,
very hard to find a solution.” Mr Corbyn said that he was looking forward to working with Ms Brabin if she is victorious in Thursday’s by-election. “I am very happy to support Tracy,” he said. “Obviously nobody wanted this by-election, but in Jo Cox’s memory we will win, in her memory we will save the NHS and in her memory we will build a good strong community.”
...but it could be 2018 by the time they’re finally approved By James Morris News Reporter james@thepressnews.co.uk
A CONTROVERSIAL planning blueprint for thousands of new homes in North Kirklees has been passed. Councillors voted in favour of an amended Local Plan on Wednesday night despite major opposition from members of the public and a number of elected members. Proposals to build up to 4,000 new homes on green belt between Mirfield and Ravensthorpe and 1,500 on a mixed-use site at Chidswell in Dewsbury made it through to the second draft of the plan. Sites in Cleckheaton and Cooper Bridge, Mirfield, are also included. The Local Plan is a major blueprint that will allocate land for homes and industry in Kirklees up to the year 2031. The district’s current Unitary Development Plan (UDP), in force since 1999, is years out of date, and a successor, the Local Development Framework, was thrown out by a government planning inspector.
Conservative councillors did not support the Labour-run authority’s amended Local Plan proposal, with Tory leader Coun David Hall (Liversedge & Gomersal) saying they did not agree with Labour on the need for 30,000 new homes – despite the Conservative government demanding that figure. He said: “We acknowledge the need to get an acceptable plan agreed but this cannot be at any cost.” But Green leader Coun Andrew Cooper said the Tories had nobody to blame but themselves, describing it as a “shambles of your own making”. Dewsbury Labour councillor Paul Kane described it as “vitally important” to accept the soundness of the Local Plan. He said: “Anyone that has anything to do with planning will not have to be reminded that we need to have a plan that is sound and robust, as for the last four years, we have been held to ransom by ruthless and greedy developers who have challenged us every step of the way, over our lack of a 25-year housing supply.” Members of the public were allowed the
Continued on Page 3