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Saturday 31 December 2016

Milnerfield trees - and controversy



Two trees in the winter sunshine. I've photographed these two in all seasons (click the 'two trees' label below) and I like how winter reveals their structure and shape so well.

The trees are in fields above the Leeds-Liverpool Canal near Dowley Gap, just past the aquaduct. Behind and to the left, the newly bare branches reveal a few buildings, which belong to Milnerfield Farm. The farm dates back to the 1860s, originally built by the Salt family on their Milnerfield estate. It has been run continuously as a tenanted dairy farm since then. The landlords have recently submitted a contentious planning application to demolish many of the existing farm buildings and build a business park for innovative technology start-up companies, backed by Bradford University and the College. According to press reports, the farmer was not even notified of this prior to the application's submission, which seems very mean. There is, inevitably, a lot of local opposition to the plans, preferring to retain the existing farm, which is in the green belt, and fearful that any change would open the way to housing developments in the area. I am not sure when the final decision will be made.

7 comments:

  1. I hope they don't get the permission ! Our little Waterloo lost most of it's fields to promoters, people just didn't care. Now it's the opposite, they try to safe what can be saved !

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  2. Those landlords are just plain old wrong IMHO. I believe there's no good reason that justifies their development plans of taking down those historic buildings.

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  3. These stories break my heart. From what I hear, there have been many changes to the farms surrounding us too. The local farmers refer to the land...not the houses. At one time it was all farm land here. I'm so torn by change, and I am gratefipul to be here. The other day a gentleman asked what house we lived in because it was so crowded over here. There are 6 houses. He didn't know we grew up in Chicago. I love your photos.

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  4. Situations like this are always upsetting Jenny, unfortunately it's happening everywhere these days.. it's hard to know what the right thing to do is!

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  5. It is a pretty photo of an idyllic country farm. These tensions between green spaces and the need for economic development are found everywhere. I don't have a single principle. Every situation needs to be evaluated on its own merits.

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