A CONTROVERSIAL bid to turn a former school site into a 66-bed care home has been taken to appeal.

More than 150 residents opposed Torsion Care Ltd's proposal for the the former Hipperholme Grammar Junior School site at Wakefield Road, Lightcliffe, and it was refused by Calderdale Council planners in December.

Objectors said the plans to demolish the old school building and then build a care home would leave them with "a neighbouring skyscraper" on their doorstep.

Members of the Council's planning panel voted to refuse the application because of the building's design and impact, as well as issues relating to parking.

But Torsion Care has now lodged an appeal over the decision, and a Government planning inspector is now set to make a ruling on whether permission should be granted after all.

The application was originally due to go to committee in mid-October but was withdrawn due to legal reasons concerned with land ownership matters.

Residents’ concerns include a number of highways and air quality concerns – the site, for which Torsion Homes has permission to build 14 homes, is around 200 metres from the busy Hipperholme crossroads.

But council officers felt the proposals met local and national planning requirements and recommended the committee approve the plans, which the applicants said would create 55 jobs.

The report to councillors stated: “A care home is an appropriate use for a residential area and it is not considered that undue disturbance would be caused to existing residents.”

However residents – who said they do not have issues with the previously approved homes proposal – were unconvinced, and have the backing of some ward councillors and of Craig Whittaker, Calder Valley Conservative MP when the application was submitted, particularly over concerns about the amount of traffic and resultant pollution.

Ward councillor, Councillor George Robinson (Con, Hipperholme and Lightcliffe) raised concerns over congestion, air quality, the overbearing nature of the building and technical issues.

“Hipperholme’s traffic junction is over capacity, and is also Calderdale’s most polluted area,” he said when the application was first submitted.

“This 66-bed proposal would also overbear existing properties. Residents don’t want a neighbouring skyscraper,” he said.

Mr Whittaker added that Wakefield Road was a "hotspot for heavy congestion" and argued that a care home would "inflate traffic volumes substantially, much more so than 14 dwellings on the same site, with the movement of various professional staff presumably needed around the clock, 24 hours - not to mention the visitors for 66 residents coming in and out of the premises."

He added that parking in the area was "a logistical nightmare both for local residents and for vehicles using Wakefield Road".

In recommending it, planning officers said that although it is acknowledged the development would be a large building, there is sufficient separation between the main aspects of existing properties surrounding the site and the proposed care home. They also say traffic levels would be acceptable compared to the previous use of the site.