KIRKLEES Council leader Shabir Pandor has sought to distance himself from a controversial warehouse development being planned for farmland near Cleckheaton.

And he has rejected suggestions that he has given his backing to what is understood to be a massive Amazon distribution centre close to junction 26 of the M62 at Chain Bar – despite appearing to speak in support of it just last month.

“I have not expressed support or otherwise for this particular planning application,” said Clr Pandor.

And he cautioned against linking the online retailer with the giant scheme, which is earmarked for a 59-acre site near the motorway.

He added: “It should be noted that Amazon have not declared themselves the end user of this planning application and are not the applicants for the application.”

The applicant is ISG Retail Ltd (Bristol), which describes itself as “an international construction services company delivering fit out, construction, engineering services and a range of specialist solutions.”

Clr Pandor’s comments come almost four months after the proposals were unveiled at the council’s Strategic Planning Committee when officers said the plan was “acceptable in principle” even though it exceeds the development capacity outlined in the council’s Local Plan.

They said the number of jobs – suggested to be around 1,500 – would contribute towards the council’s target of delivering 23,000 jobs by 2031.

Council Leader's comments about proposed Amazon warehouse provoke anger

Speaking in August at a meeting of the council’s Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee Clr Pandor said: “You’ll also be aware that we’re going to have a big distribution company coming into Kirklees.

“I’m trying my best to actually get the one-and-a-half thousand jobs in place.”

He was widely criticised with senior Lib Dem Clr Kath Pinnock arguing that his comments undermined the democratic process.

His latest comments came as part of an answer to a written question, submitted last week to a meeting of full council by Clr Andrew Cooper (Green, Newsome), which was not heard due to the meeting running out of time.

Clr Cooper said: “It is hard to believe that Clr Pandor is now telling us he did not express support for a new warehouse in Cleckheaton when he told us in a Scrutiny meeting that he was trying to secure jobs there.

“He can’t have it both ways.

“This smacks of being a legal response he has been provided with to get him out of trouble rather than an honest reflection of his actions.”

The warehouse plan – described by critics as equivalent in height to an eight-storey tower block and the length of three full-size football pitches side-by-side – has been variously described as “absolutely monstrous” and a “monolith”.

Among those reacting to the latest stage in the saga was Clr John Lawson, a Cleckheaton councillor and leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group.

He said: “Clr Pandor has spoken publicly in support of this application and spent some time and effort afterwards trying to qualify his comments.

“Whatever his stance on  this application is, it doesn’t concern me. What does concern me is that our communities aren’t ploughed under by quick fixes and lazy thinking.”

Clr Lawson, with ward colleague Clr Kath Pinnock, has previously highlighted the anticipated impact of extra traffic on already overloaded local roads if the warehouse scheme goes ahead.

He repeated his group’s call for the council to consider strategic traffic and environmental issues “in the round with partners like Highways England so that Chain Bar and Cleckheaton aren’t overwhelmed by the developers.

“We need to consider the increasing evidence of the consequences of this particularly poor type of ‘big box’ development, irrespective of the applicant.”