Home Property & Construction Work on £5M Pontefract houses begins

Work on £5M Pontefract houses begins

Ambitious plans for a £5 million development of new residential properties in Pontefract have been reignited after doubts about the scheme’s financial viability have been resolved.

Building contractors are now working on the Hemsworth Lane brownfield site in Fitzwilliam, where 27 houses are being constructed under plans that recently got the green light from council planners.

The properties are being built as part of a stalled sites initiative around the town in a move that will help to meet the demand for new houses.

The news is the culmination of months of hard work by Leeds-based planning consultancy and project management firm DPA Planning Ltd and Wakefield Council to get the scheme back on track after it initially stalled.


Early plans hit the stumbling blocks after concerns were raised by the landowner about the scheme’s financial viability.

Issues around remediation, on/off site planning contributions, drainage and renewables, together with unpredictable returns in a volatile property market, led to the site remaining undeveloped years after outline planning permission was first secured.

Now, after a comprehensive reassessment of the scheme’s viability by DPA Planning’s Sam Dewar, construction work on the first phase of the two and three bedroomed properties is underway, with the entire site targeted for completion by 2019.

Sam Dewar, who has more than a 95% success rate in securing planning permission for clients, welcomed the latest move.

He added that securing the development of sites like Hemsworth Lane has to be good news at a time when the country faces a chronic housing shortage: “After early frustrations and false start, the scheme is now back on track.

“We’re delighted to have played a part in a process that’s a good example of independent advisors and local authorities working in partnership to secure planning success.

“Without a proactive and common sense understanding from the council’s planning team we couldn’t have re-started on site. Pre-commencement planning conditions have been removed along with other requirements that would otherwise render the scheme unviable.”