Haworth Church: do not threaten the unique nature of Haworth

The Brontë Society and the environmentalist groups are not the only ones that clearly oppose to the plans to build 120 homes on grazing land at Weavers Hill, Haworth. The Haworth Parish Church has sent us the following statement:

24th October 2012

Haworth Parish Church supports viable, economic and sympathetic development within the Parish because we recognise the need to provide sustainable housing for future generations. Such developments should be an intrusive part of the village’s historic landscape and totally respect an environment that attracts many thousands of visitors to the area each year as well as still providing a classic example of a south Pennine hill village.

We do not support the introduction of large scale developments on Greenfield sites in and around the village. Many people in the area depend on the visitors for their livings and it is important that the appearance of the village is maintained to ensure that our tourism industry is retained and developed. Large scale housing developments are contrary to the area’s landscape and would threaten the unique nature of the village.

Bradford Metropolitan District Council are currently compiling a new District Plan and Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council are in the early stages of developing as part of the Localism Act provisions a Neighbourhood Development Plan. These two documents are considering what land is available for development in the village and both have an element of community involvement and consultation built their processes.

We as a Church believe that both these documents should be produced before any further major development plans are presented for Planning Consent.