Bronze Age remains could cause fresh delays to Bellway Homes’ latest bid to build on Balderstone Fields in Mirfield.
The housebuilder has applied to Kirklees Council for permission to build 75 homes on land off Woodward Court, close to Crossley Fields School.
It is the fifth attempt to secure approval for housing on the site, which has been at the centre of a long-running campaign by residents and the Save Mirfield campaign group.
More than 430 comments have been lodged on the latest application.
West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service, which advises Kirklees planners, now says the land contains heritage assets of “high regional significance” and should be mapped and subject to a full open-area archaeological excavation before development or ground consolidation works begin.
The service said earlier trial trenching found “unique evidential value” from the Bronze Age onwards.
Finds include at least one definite Bronze Age cremation burial, several possible burials, prehistoric or Romano-British field systems and early mining features.
In an email seen by Mirfield Mail, WYAAS team manager David Williams said earlier investigations linked to Bellway’s 2017 application found an Early Bronze Age cremation burial about 4,100 years old, evidence of farming and settlement from the Iron Age and Roman periods, later agricultural land division and 18th and 19th century coal mining activity.
WYAAS says parts of the site were stripped of topsoil around 2019, but that does not mean the archaeology has been lost.
It says features including cremation pits, prehistoric postholes and medieval ditch fills may remain intact below ground.
The archaeology advice could complicate the timetable for Bellway because the site also has a mining legacy.
The Mining Remediation Authority raised a formal objection in January. It said the site is in a high-risk area and historic unrecorded shallow coal mining is likely to have taken place.
Its response said previous investigations had found 12 previously unrecorded mine entries. It also said Bellway’s coal mining report had been prepared for an earlier 61-home scheme, not the current 75-home proposal.
WYAAS says proposed treatment of mine entries and a possible bell pit group could involve heavy drilling rigs, boreholes and pressure grouting. It warned those works could damage or seal buried archaeology and said archaeological work must be completed and signed off before drilling or ground consolidation starts.
Save Mirfield chairman Cheryl Tyler said: “It’s a conundrum for Bellway and the planning department.
“Now that the Archaeology Advisory Service advise that the land shouldn’t be touched before the archaeological remains have been properly investigated, it means that further investigations regarding the old coal mine workings and the drainage situation cannot proceed.
“Additionally, the stabilisation of the land, which is very important before any development can take place, must not be undertaken at this time.
“These kinds of archeological investigations require a lot of work, but we’ve got no idea whether it takes a week, a month, or a year to carry out.
“There’ll be a lot of pressure on the planning department to get this through, but we hope that common sense will prevail.”
The campaign against development on Balderstone Fields dates back decades. Previous applications have been refused, withdrawn or defeated, with residents raising concerns over traffic, narrow roads, school safety, drainage, mining, wildlife and the loss of green space.
Bellway says the latest plan has changed from earlier schemes. Its planning statement says the site is in a sustainable location and would provide 75 houses, including 15 affordable homes, public open space and biodiversity improvements.
The company also says it has looked again at highways concerns from previous applications. Its submitted transport material says traffic on Wellhouse Lane has fallen since the last scheme and that a new exit on Hepworth Lane would improve, or at least not worsen, traffic on the southern section of Wellhouse Lane at peak times.
Bellway land director Stewart Thomson said in consultation material submitted with the application: “There is a pressing need for new homes in Kirklees and a lack of viable and deliverable allocated sites within the borough, so we would like to bring this site forward for development to help address the immediate housing need.”
Mirfield Tory councillor Martyn Bolt said: “I was naturally pleased to hear that further information is needed before any decision can be made.
“However, I was very concerned that it is only now after many years, campaigns and other intrusive site investigations that this comes to the forefront.
“I therefore asked West Yorkshire Archaeology Advisory Service and sought clarification as to any damage which could have been caused during the nearly 30 years I have been fighting this application.”
