NEWSENTERTAINMENTJOBS BOARD SearchManor Park roadworks to be completed by EasterNickApr 31 min readDavid Wilson Homes plans at Burley in WharfedaleDavid Wilson Homes [DWH] the developers at Manor Park in Burley-in-Wharfedale has issued an update and says work is scheduled to be completed before the Easter bank holiday "Final surfacing is now underway on the roundabout in preparation for fully opening to traffic on 17th April 2025 DWH has placed forward warning notices advising of potential extended delays whilst the surfacing work is taking place This is due to movements of the Traffic Management to keep the surfacing works fluid "On 9th and 10th April access to and from Esscroft Private Nursery will be limited however the operatives on site will marshal vehicles in and out where required To help the situation DWH will not commence works in the area until after 9am except for emergencies until after 1pm on these days." "Bradford Council have failed to attend to erect the street lighting columns which has impacted the final surfacing to the footways DWH have employed an alternative contractor who is installing the columns w/c 14th April White lining will also take place during w/c 14th April "Footway surfacing will be completed as soon as Bradford Council has completed the street lighting connections." The carriageway will be complete for a full opening on the evening of Thursday 17th April SearchTributes paid to Burley in Wharfedale man who died in plane crashNickJul 30 20241 min readMatthew Bird (left) and Oliver Dawes (right) died following the crash on SundayPolice have confirmed one of young men who died in a light aircraft crash near Selby at the weekend was from Burley in Wharfedale A two-seater light aircraft with two occupants crashed at a rural location near Selby on Sunday morning was the passenger on the plane and his family have said in statement: “Yesterday Oliver will continue to live on in our hearts and memories as the kind We will miss him every day for the rest of our lives The second man who died been named as Matthew Bird Matthew’s family paid tribute to him: “Yesterday we lost our son We are utterly heartbroken but he will live on in our hearts as we cherish the incredibly special memories he’s left us with.” North Yorkshire Police say investigations into the circumstances surrounding the incident are on going SearchIlkley's ‘Waste Not’ to close after four yearsNickOct 28 20241 min readThe Ilkley Waste Not will close on 2nd November (Photo: Waste Not)Lottie Kitching owner of zero waste shop ‘Waste Not’ on Well Road has announced the Ilkley shop will be closing on Saturday 2nd November after four years The Ilkley shop opened in 2020 after the success for the first ‘Waste Not’ in Burley-in-Wharfedale which opened in 2018 and will now extend its opening hours but with rising costs and the ongoing struggle to make ends meet it’s become harder and harder to prioritise orders and pay invoices I’m excited to focus on making the Burley shop everything you (hopefully) already love and more.” The final opening days in Ilkley are will be Wednesday 30th October to Saturday 2nd November The store in Burley-in-Wharfedale is on Main Street in the village, you can also shop with Waste Not online at wastenot.tillex.co.uk and follow on Facebook at facebook.com/wastenotpopupshop The ad-free version is ready for purchase on iOS mobile app today we couldn't find that page";var n=e.querySelector("h2");return n&&n.remove(),{staticContent:e,title:t}},d=function(e){var t=document.createElement("button");return t.innerText=e,t.classList.add("error-page-button"),t},f=function(e){var t=document.createElement("div");t.id="recirculation-404",t.classList.add("brand-hint-bg");var n="\n \n \n Tick here if you would like us to send you the author’s response Bradford has long been surrounded by some of the most beautiful and scenic towns in West Yorkshire There are many towns across England named some variation of Burley which translates from Old English as meaning a fortification near open land by a wood the 'in-Wharfedale' part of the name serves to keep it identifiable from the other places with the same name close to the border of North and West Yorkshire With snow still covering much of the region the town still has a distinctly winter feel with reference to it in the Domesday Book all the way back in 1086 during the reign of William the Conqueror While there has been a settlement in the area for hundreds of years the modern town dates back to the industrial revolution This industrial heritage is evident here as it is in Bradford itself and many of the towns surrounding it Greenholme Mills was a textile mill on the edge of town and much of the population will have once worked in the mill itself The mill made use of hydropower from the River Wharfe and sat along Iron Row the mill is now home to a housing development it still retains much of its industrial character while its surrounding countryside is beautiful and scenic with the town bathed in snow and the winter sun it really does make for some stunning views even when just walking through the streets of Burley-in-Wharfedale Get all the latest and breaking Bradford news straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter here. Many small industrial towns are also filled with historic churches to serve the many communities who came to work in the industrial areas and Burley-in-Wharfedale is no different with three different churches found around the town centre It is also filled with plenty of parks and green spaces meaning you are never too far from nature while in the town the town features many of the more modern conveniences of today's society with restaurants featuring Indian and Chinese food lining the streets alongside a Co-op store near the town centre Just a few miles from Otley and Ilkley and with a train station providing access into Bradford the town is well situated these days for commuting in to work with plenty of country walks available for those who want some country air this means it provides a good place to live for those who work in the city but who want a quieter place to come back to the average house price in the area sits at £394,290 Whether you're thinking of a new place to live or just want to visit an old Yorkshire town Burley-in-Wharfedale really does provide almost everything you need Story SavedYou can find this story in  My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right Hang on, you may be thinking. 500 new homes? In the Green Belt? When the Secretary of State had previously decided to refuse consent (see here) but that refusal had been quashed in the High Court with the Secretary of State’s agreement for inadequate reasons To revise Green Belt boundaries through local plans, authorities need to show “exceptional circumstances”: see my explainer here But to get planning permission for most kinds of new building in the Green Belt outside of the plan-making process, the test is different. And it’s higher. Very special circumstances. Which will only exist if “the potential harm to the Green Belt by reason of inappropriateness, and any other harm resulting from the proposal, is clearly outweighed by other considerations” So what’s happening? Is this Government (gasp!) tearing up the Green Belt? Has the revolution come, friends, and we were so busy watching Oprah that we didn’t notice it It’s a trend which has nothing to do with tearing up the Green Belt This trend links back to our favourite topic: the failure of the local plan process Because here’s the point: what these examples of hundreds of homes in the Green Belt passing the very special circumstances test are really about is what happens when plans don’t move fast enough I think the mission-critical points to understand are that: The local planning authority was the City of Bradford MDC - and the Council supported the scheme it was common ground between the applicant and the Council that the development could be accommodated within this part of the Green Belt whilst maintaining the integrity of the wider Green Belt and the purposes and functions of the Green Belt lying between Burley-in-Wharfedale and Ilkley This time (in a rather seismic shift from his 2019 refusal) the Secretary of State agreed too the Inspector’s reading of the adopted local plan was that: (a) exceptional circumstances had already been shown to release Green Belt land for housing (b) 700 new homes should be brought forward at Burley-in-Wharfedale as a Local Growth Centre which will require a “significant contribution” from Green Belt land and (c) the plan had been formulated specifically to incorporate the development of 500 of those dwellings and a new primary school on the application site The Council’s housing land supply was under 2 years so the Secretary of State accepted that the delivery of new housing should attract “very substantial weight” Significant weight also for the primary school and very significant weight for the heritage benefits of using a Roman Temporary Camp as an educational resource is how you show very special circumstances Because Bradford’s 2017 Core Strategy was supposed to be followed by a site allocations plan - which would and should have removed this Burley-in-Wharfedale site from the Green Belt and allocated it for 500 homes Just a happily dull example of the system operating as intended we’re still waiting for Bradford’s site allocations plan Which left the developer with little choice but to chance their arm through a planning application the delay and cost of a 6 day planning inquiry the costs of quashing that decision in the High Court the real story of Burley-in-Wharfedale is not about the Green Belt being under threat It’s a story about what happens when plan-making stops But the needs to bring development forward keep on going the local authority’s housing land supply was dreadful - normally down around 2 years or even less So what’s the thread which links these cases What do they really tell us about demonstrating very special circumstances When a site is proposed for release from the Green Belt and allocation for housing through an emerging plan very special circumstances may be made out in circumstances where (a) the Council has a substantial housing shortage and (b) the site fails substantially or entirely to contribute to Green Belt purposes Let’s be clear: there’s nothing plan-led about all of this These are examples of developers forced to rely on the very special circumstances test precisely because the plans have failed altogether The real point is that serious needs - for housing all of it - those needs don’t evaporate just because your plan has hit the skids Zack Simons KC Landmark Chambers zsimons@landmarkchambers.co.uk