News and events
Click on a headline to comment.
EcoHolmes AGM 2024
On the 24th of April EcoHolmes held its fourth AGM with lots to report and some very interesting talks from guest speakers Professor Phil Brown, from Huddersfield University, Department of Housing & Communities, and Richard Townend of GWP Architecture.
Our Chair, Stephen Sheard shared our progress over the past 12 months, most notably with the planned development of 10 low energy affordable homes on the edge of Scholes in partnership with Connect Housing Association, but also proposals for retrofitting the empty old Parish Council office building in central Holmfirth. This was followed by a look at the scale of the decarbonisation challenge as it relates to housing and how the quality of housing affects health and well-being outcomes.
Professor Phil Brown had some startling figures to share around the impact and cost of poor quality housing and outlined the need to fix leaky homes, switch to low carbon heating systems, while avoiding harm to low income households. He advocated the need to promoteg behaviour change in policy makers as well as tenants and home owners.
Our second speaker, PassivHaus / Retrofit designer, and local resident, Richard Townend, expanded on the ‘fabric first’ approach to designing an Eco Home, and the details included within the housing designs for our Chippings project.
For AGM information and slides for both talks, click here for our Policies & Reports page.
Kirklees Local Plan Review Early Engagement Survey
There’s a week to go!!
Don’t miss this chance to have your say about the type of housing we need and where it
should be built in the Holme Valley. If you haven’t completed the survey, it takes 10 minutes
or so. The closing date for the survey is Friday 28th February 2025.
Kirklees Early Engagement exercise to inform the Local Pan review closes soon. The
opportunity to comment is open to residents, community groups, business operators,
landowners and developers. The Council is calling for sites to be nominated for possible
development, saying it wants to look at as many options as possible and choose the most
suitable sites for where new development goes.
Many people in the Valley agree there is a need for more lower cost houses, more houses
for rent and more smaller houses to be built. They also want to see more job opportunities
in the Valley so younger people don’t have to move away. But where should these houses
and workplaces be located?
To find out more and have your say, fill in the survey at Kirklees Development Plan
Kirklees Council.
Full planning permission received.
The prospect of 10 new homes at low rents for families in the Scholes area of the
Holme Valley, took a step forward this week.
The final planning approval has been issued for the energy efficient homes
exclusively for local households priced out of the housing market. Following some
long delays in finalising the legal documentation, Kirklees Council published the
planning decision on its website on Friday 11th October 2024.
The homes will be built on the ex-quarry,Chippings site on Chapelgate.
Connect Housing will build and manage the houses. They are making progress in
engaging contractors. It is likely that work will start on the building works in early
2025.
View the full planning notice and link to the Kirklees planning portal here.
