Friday, February 13, 2004

Residents adjacent to the millpond land between Windsor View and Spring Grove were yesterday sent notification from Calderdale Council planning services regarding the Tree Preservation Order on certain trees on this land and the intent of the owner to carry out work on other trees on the land.

Today Friday 13th February, two men (who did not appear to be qualified tree surgeons) arrived and began to indiscriminately saw down trees on the millpond site - with bow saws.

They did confirm that they had been asked to do this work by the 'company' Green Tops Ltd. When challenged they telephoned their boss and were told to leave. The TPO Officer confirmed that there was not a lot they could do unless they found on inspection that the TPO had been violated (a little too late after the fact).

In light of the fact that this land has recently been bought from the receivers, a few initial inquiries have been made to try and find out more. The information is tentative, but is as follows.

• The objections to the TPO and the information regarding tree work to be carried out were presented by the owner's agent, namely Kennedy Design, on behalf of their client Green Tops Ltd.
• A site meeting involving the agents, the TPO and the countryside agency is to be held following the work which they were told would be carried out by a reputable tree surgeon.
• The agents are Kennedy Design, Architectural Services, 11 Holme Court, Goldthorpe, Rotherham, S. Yorks (Tel:01709 896393).
• The 'clients' are Green Tops Ltd a company only newly registered on the 28th January 2004 with no previous history and not stating the nature of it's business. The address given is 12 York Place, Leeds West Yorkshire LS1 2DS. No telephone number is supplied.
• This address, 12 York Place, belongs to York Place Company Services Ltd (Tel 0113 242 0222) a company which provides a business address and services etc.... for other companies which can be done via e-mail. i.e. anonymously. Local residents have today applied to the land registry to try to find out who owns the land.

The new revised draft of the unitary development plan has been submitted to councillors for their consideration in the coming weeks.

• The status of the land has been changed from greenbelt to open amenity in the new plan taking into account objections that had been received formally.
• If the new plan is accepted it will be available to view from 26th March. Where a change has taken place regarding a piece of land, objections may be submitted during a six week time period, ie, from 26h March to 7th May 2004.

One nearby resident told the Hebweb, "I have a very strong feeling that part of the developer's strategy is to remove as much of the Green Belt aspect of the Mill Pond as possible as quickly as possible. Which is of course the trees."

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