Data requested over West Yorkshire Amazon warehouse plan

The proposed warehouse will be 2.9m sq ft ( 270,000 sq m), according to a trade magazine

A council, which is considering the development of a giant Amazon warehouse, has said it is waiting for more data surrounding the proposal.

A planning application was lodged for the site near the M62 motorway near Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire last year.

However, Kirklees Council is waiting for "outstanding information" on jobs and traffic figures, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The BBC has contacted Amazon and the developer for a response.

According to trade magazine Construction Enquirer, the proposed 2.9m sq ft ( 270,000 sq m) warehouse will be a four-storey building and is being developed at a cost of £265m by Bristol-based ISG.

In a seven-page letter, Kate Mansell, who at the time was the council's group leader for development management, said timescales would be impacted as a result of further data being needed, and the time required to digest it.

'Consistently vague'

She said greater clarity was needed around staff numbers and shift patterns and how local roads might be affected

When the site was announced Amazon said there would be 1,500 to 1,700 permanent positions, rising to around 2,400 jobs over a three-year period.

John Lawson, a Lib Dem councillor who is opposed to the facility, said the incomplete nature of information around the use of surrounding residential roads was "worrying", adding that the application was "consistently vague".

"The touted increase in jobs over the first three years obviously impacts the traffic modelling carried out so far," he said.

He said residents were "in the dark" about how noise and air quality would be impacted by future shift patterns.

"It's only right that applications of this size should bring full answers to standard questions, not more questions," he added.

The most recent consultation period on the development expired on 31 May, but Kirklees Council has indicated that people can still send comments and they would still be taken into account.

The application is expected to go before a planning committee this summer.

Correction 9 June 2022: This article originally described Kate Mansell as a former planning manager who had written a letter to the council. This sentence has been amended to make clear that this was a letter sent by Ms Mansell in her role at the council as Group Leader - Development Management.