A community that worked together.

Menston Action Group (MAG) is to become dormant.
Over the past 12 years MAG has been a community that came together with an objective of
preserving a way of life for a village on the edge of urbanisation.

MAG was not just a committee or as sometimes seen, one man with specialised skills, but hundreds of neighbours and friends that offered their support, time and effort to champion our wish to live in our quiet village.

Looking back we wish to thank the 900 households that donated to funds and many more that gave cash support that remain anonymous. To the children that gifted their pocket money and the senior citizens that offered support from pensions, we are grateful.

Hundreds of people gave up thousands of hours and joined the working groups on roads, rail,transport, flooding, Schools and education and thousands turned out to vote in the village referendum. We wore T shirts and made banners, we had billboards in our gardens and windows and we marched in unison to City Hall more than once.

We raised funds through organising raffles and classic car shows and we caught the eye of the nationwith TV cameras and reporters closely following our efforts.
We spoke with MPs and government ministers and we challenged decisions in the courts.
Our efforts as a community helped neighbouring communities take heart to fight their own causes and communities close to us had favourable outcomes as a result of what we had done.

We are now expanding as a village and it is time to welcome our new neighbours and take our village forwards in a way that we as a community wish to shape.
The remaining funds are to be donated to our friends at Menston In Bloom so that a tree may be planted in our friendly village as a commemoration of the time the village came together. Like our community, this tree will also grow and add beauty and we hope, inspiration, well into the future.

Proposed site for the tree in Menston Park

If you want to know what’s going on, be there!!!!

Thank you Menston Parish Council

Many thanks to Menston Parish Council for a report that tells of the unsuitability of the proposed development on Bingley road. It is another nail in the Bingley Road planning coffin, it could be the last one, but we do know the developers agents will need a stake through the heart to lay this idea to rest

Below is the reports summary

This reaffirms the conclusions of the previous reports of

Professor David Rhodes and Dr Duncan Reed  

 Read the full report 2017s6416_Bingley_Road_Final_Issued_with_Appendices

 After 7 years fighting instigated by MAG, all Menston organisations are as one in the opposition to building on inappropriate sites

DING DING !! Round Two

A little reading to keep you up to date

First, the Telegraph and Argus article.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/15470293.Campaigners_gear_up_for_round_two_in_fight_against_housing_plan/?ref=erec

Second,  is the executive summary from the Duncan Reed’s Independent Review of Menston Flooding Problems. There is a link to the full report after.

Executive summary

The extent of flooding problems has been a source of dispute at Menston in connection with planned development of Greenfield sites labelled Bingley Road and Derry Hill. At a late hour, an independent external opinion has been sought.

This report presents that opinion.

The developers have relied on generalised methods of flood estimation that are widely but wrongly applied to such sites. There is always specific local information about drainage and flooding. An important factor neglected in this case is the prevalence of springs and responsive groundwater from the Millstone Grit aquifer underlying the hillside on which Menston sits.

The areal extent of the topographic catchment draining to Derry Hill has also been underestimated.

The hillside on which Menston sits can be summarised as hummocky. It is drained by a
number of small streams. Some of these are seasonal, with flows only occurring in wet
weather and/or when groundwater levels are unusually high.

The progressive migration of Menston village up the hillside has led to problems previously. Because there is no dominant stream, each has in turn been culverted, diverted into sewer systems or obstructed by development. Some defiles lacking a permanent watercourse have been filled in: overlooking that these may be routes taken by floodwater in exceptional conditions.

These problems are heightened by the unique setting of Menston. The most unusual feature is the transverse drainage of Matthew Dike. This watercourse cuts off stream flow from Reva Hill, and guides it eastwards towards Mire Beck.

Were Matthew Dike absent, there would be larger streams in Menston of the kind evident in Burley in Wharfedale: streams that are less easy to culvert or neglect.
It transpires that upper sections of Matthew Dike overflow into the Derry Hill catchment in major flood events such as that of 24 September 2012. Thus the effective catchment to Derry Hill (and to the culvert behind Dick’s Garth Road) – which was already underestimated – is increased further in major floods.
A second unusual feature arises from the siting of the huge asylum at High Royds in 1888. My report refers to this chiefly as High Royds Hospital (HRH). HRH was designed to be as self-sufficient as possible, and the availability of a strong source of groundwater was a key asset. The groundwater abstraction at the HRH Pump House continued throughout the lifetime of HRH. The abstraction ceased on closure of the hospital in 2003.

Extension of Menston village southwards has mainly taken place in an era where spring flows were being suppressed by this major abstraction. The spring flows are no longer suppressed and groundwater levels are now typically higher. Agricultural (and other) lands on the hillslope are now typically wetter than previously. The Bingley Road development lies within the area where typical groundwater levels can be expected to be appreciably higher than during the lifetime of HRH.
The report explores these and other features. The penultimate chapter tentatively considers some actions that might make the Bingley Road and Derry Hill sites less flood-prone.

SO WITH REGARD TO THE BELLWAY HOMES DEVELOPMENT ON BINGLEY ROAD

Nothing has changed since Dr Duncan W Reed’s independent  Flooding and Drainage report (click text to view) which convinced Bradford Council to refuse planning permission and Taylor Wimpy to withdraw from building on the Bingley Road site.

 

Email from Bradford Planning to Menston Parish Council

From: Stewart Currie <stewart.currie@bradford.gov.uk>
Sent: 09 August 2017 10:27
To: Menston PC
Cc: Cllr Dale Smith; Peter Finlay; Philip Moore; Gordon Metcalfe; Quentin Mackenzie; Lilias McCulloch; David Naylor
Subject: RE: 17/04591/MAF – Land at Bingley Road, Menston

Catriona

Whilst the notification period ends on the 31 August 2017, as with any application, any comments/consultation responses received after that date would be considered and reported to the relevant Regulatory & Appeals Committee. As of yet, no Committee date has been set. The application will not be reported to Committee before October 2017.  Therefore, any comments/consultation responses received after the 31 August 2017 will be accounted for.

In the event of any changes to the planning application, the application would be re-advertised and the consultation period extended.

regards

Stewart Currie

Senior Planning Officer

Major Development

01274 434380

WITH REGARD TO THE BELLWAY HOMES DEVELOPMENT ON BINGLEY ROAD

Nothing has changed since Dr Duncan W Reed’s independent  Flooding and Drainage report (click text to view) which convinced Bradford Council to refuse planning permission and Taylor Wimpy to withdraw from building on the Bingley Road site.