Discover Huddersfield Walks are back and the next one that’s not fully booked will be in Marsden (click on the PDF at the bottom of the story for the full walks programme).
 
All walks must be pre-booked through Eventbrite and will be available to book around 14 days before each one is held.
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The first walk around Lindley on July 15 is fully booked which shows that people are keen to participate in outdoor activities again.
 
Here are the details about the evening stroll around Marsden on Tuesday, August 10 at 6.30pm.
 
Meet outside the Mechanics Institute and this evening walk around Marsden will be led by Tom Lonsdale. Tom is a Chartered Landscape Architect and current Chair of Marsden Community Trust, which was established to take ownership of the listed Marsden Mechanics on behalf of the village community.
 
Tom will recount the origins of the building and its relationship with the textile industry that flourished for so long and shaped Marsden, moving on to look at the remarkable remnants of that age - the canal and railway, the ‘oversized’ church, slumbering mills etc.
 
The walk will include the remarkable story of the village including relics of the even earlier Luddite rebellion, plus a hint of the future as a gateway to a new regional South Pennines Park.
 
Join us and learn more about this bustling Pennine centre where the rich legacy of its history and its recent revival will be revealed.
 
Hurry though as places are limited to 20 and booking is essential.
 
To reserve a free place for yourself and one guest contact HCS Treasurer Michael Barron,
 
Email: mj.barron@btinternet.com; Tel: 01484 537080. Other than members' guests, non-members will be charged £5 (payable on the evening). The walk is expected to last around two hours.

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In December 2020, HCS submitted comments to Kirklees Council concerning three Supplementary Planning Documents (SPDs) and a biodiversity document. Click here to read this story. 

These SPDs were formally adopted by the council on June 29, 2021.

The council also adopted a Climate Change Guidance for Planning Applications, a document which, we understand, was never consulted upon.
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Our understanding is that these documents all now have the same legal force within Kirklees as existing local planning documents that support our adopted Local Plan, the legal position being that SPDs exist to explain in more detail how the requirements stated in the Local Plan are to be met.
 
However good the intentions, it is difficult to see anything positive in adding these innumerable extra (but often vague and imprecise) requirements for developers to add/consider/include across so many matters in their planning applications.
 
The additional complexity will require extra effort by applicants, extra time for planners to assess and could lead to more challenges and disputes. Additionally, there could be challenges as to whether the scope of these SPDs goes beyond the contents of the approved Local Plan.
 
It is also quite likely that the government’s intended planning reforms (included in the recent Queen’s speech) might make these documents obsolete as the proposed design guide approach (in last year’s planning white paper) takes a different, and arguably, simpler approach to the subjects covered by the three SPDs.