Cabinet approves sale of Almondbury land for housing
Our Cabinet have just approved the strategic sale of land in Almondbury for housing development.
What will the new development be?
The land, on Fenay Lane, could potentially deliver around 160 new homes. We identified it as part of our housing growth strategy, which was approved by Cabinet in November last year.
What does ‘strategic sale’ mean?
By strategically choosing a housing provider to sell this land to, a well-resourced development partner will be able to develop these new homes on Fenay Lane – helping us address the national housing shortage without ongoing investment from us as a council.
What’s happened so far?
We identified the land on Fenay Lane as part of our housing growth strategy, which was approved by Cabinet in November last year.
We gave public notification that this land would be sold. Since then we’ve considered all objections received, and made sure that mitigations are in place to address all concerns raised.
What happens next?
Now that Cabinet have approved the sale, we’ll choose a housing provider to sell the land to.
We’ll choose this provider based on their priorities, which we want to closely align with ours – creating as many new affordable homes as possible, and making sure all new housing is energy efficient.
Before the land is sold, this provider will also be approved by Homes England.
Councillor Graham Turner, Cabinet Member for Finance & Regeneration, says:
“Across Kirklees, we’re aiming to create well over 2,000 new homes by 2030.
“Part of achieving this goal is strategically selling portions of land to trusted developers who can bring this to fruition, without ongoing financial input from us as a council. Throughout these decisions, we always work on the basis that our development partners should share our values and have the best interests of local people and communities at heart.
“By working with trusted partners and utilising our own land, we can ensure that the right mix of housing is delivered to meet the needs of our residents. This new development should bring around 160 new quality homes to the beautiful village of Almondbury – piece by piece helping us address the current shortage of housing, not just locally but nationally.”