Giant Cleckheaton Amazon warehouse plan rejected

Plans for the Amazon warehouse near Cleckheaton were refused by Kirklees councillors

Plans for a giant Amazon warehouse in West Yorkshire have been rejected.

The proposal would have seen the 23.7 hectare (58.5 acre) site built on agricultural land to the west of the M62 near Cleckheaton.

The application received more than 2,000 representations, most of which opposed the plans, citing increased traffic and the size of the building.

The plans were refused at a meeting of Kirklees Council's strategic planning committee on Wednesday.

Amazon had said the warehouse would create up to 1,700 jobs in its first year.

The decision by councillors followed a campaign against the plan by the Save Our Spen community group, which had raised concerns over increased traffic and the impact of light and noise from the warehouse.

Cleckheaton councillor John Lawson told the meeting: "We must have the right application on such a site and this isn't it."

Batley and Spen Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, who joined the meeting online, said she could list more than 100 reasons why the proposal was wrong for the area.

Scholes resident Alison Abbott told the meeting: "My home will no longer be my sanctuary due to 24/7 noise and I won't be able to open windows knowing that all that pollution is there."

Four Kirklees councillors voted to refuse the application.