Plans to build 151 canalside homes in Wakefield have been approved despite narrowboat residents warning councillors over the loss of wildlife habitats.
The application for a site next to the Aire and Calder Navigation forms part of the wider City Fields development, which will see about 2,500 homes built as the expansion to the east of the city is completed.
One narrowboat resident, Kathryn Pybus, urged councillors to reject the plan: “Cramming 151 houses onto that narrow strip of land will result in the vast majority of the natural habitat on site being destroyed.”
But the application was approved after five members of the planning and highways committee voted in favour and five abstained.
During the meeting on Thursday at Wakefield Town Hall, Stanley Ferry boat site resident Pybus had told councillors that Yorkshire Wildlife Trust had also lodged an objection to the proposals due to a “lack of up-to-date wildlife surveys”.
She added: “Councils have a legal duty to protect and restore nature.
“To abide by wildlife laws, and local and national policies, this application needs to be rejected.”
Lisa Hudson, another Stanley Ferry boat site resident, told the meeting the area had been a “hotspot” for wildlife when she moved to the area in 2016.
“I no longer have bats flying over my boat. I no longer see grass snakes. I no longer see swifts. Where have they gone?” she asked.
“The development has affected our county’s wildlife, and it has affected the water table.”
Pybus told councillors the impact “should force you to take notice” and mitigation “should have commenced years ago”.
“You knew that project was vast, you should be ashamed of yourselves,” she said.
