Westgate, Cleckheaton: Construction site air quality and safety updates

Latest update: 23 March 2026

This update is to inform residents about recent action taken by the council in relation to the construction site at Westgate, Cleckheaton.

The Pollution and Noise Control Team received a call from a local resident on Thursday 12 March reporting dust blowing off the construction site. Officers attended the area and observed dust migrating off the site during very windy conditions. A detailed site inspection was also carried out at that time.

Based on officers' observations and the evidence gathered, the council determined that a statutory nuisance had occurred and was likely to happen again. As a result, the council has decided to serve an abatement notice on the developers. This notice requires them to take action to control and reduce the dust nuisance.

For an abatement notice to be issued, the evidence must meet the "balance of probabilities", which is the civil standard of proof. This is different from the higher criminal standard of proof, which applies if further enforcement action becomes necessary.

When an abatement notice is served, the council must allow a reasonable period for compliance. This gives the developer time to put additional controls in place, such as bringing in equipment or changing working practices to reduce dust. The abatement notice came into force on Wednesday 18 March.

If enforcement action is needed after the notice becomes active, officers must be able to prove that the notice has been breached to the criminal standard of proof. This usually means officers must witness the nuisance themselves and gather evidence showing that dust is materially affecting nearby residents or property.

The council will continue to carry out monitoring of the site to make sure the issue is addressed. However, it remains very important that residents report dust leaving the site as soon as it happens. This allows officers to attend quickly and assess the situation while it is occurring.

30 January 2026 update

Since residents first brought their concerns to the council about the construction site at Westgate, Cleckheaton, we have been working hard to make sure local homes and families remain safe.

The council and its partners have carried out several actions:

• We have now carried out over 50 monitoring visits to the site to make sure nearby properties remain safe and to ensure that the right procedures are in place.
• We have commissioned independent air testing around the perimeter of the site which determine if any fibres are in the air leaving the site. Air testing has taken place on 40 separate occasions over an 8-week period between 4 November 2025 and 9 January 2026.

No concerns have been raised by any of the air monitoring or testing results.

• We have reviewed the various documents, processes and procedures that constructors must follow to keep their sites safe.
• We have undertaken proactive monitoring around the initial piling activity to understand the impacts of piling.
• We have worked with the developer to increase the steps it is taking to stop dust escaping from the site. Extra precautions were put in place to minimise the movement of dust even further.
• Where appropriate, we continue to work with partner organisations, including the Health and Safety Executive and the UK Health Security Agency, taking on board their expert advice.

We understand that residents have concerns and we want to do even more to address them. That's why, over the coming days and weeks, we are planning extra action:

• We will continue to visit the site and work with the developer and our partner organisations, as the development progresses, to make sure the strict rules on managing sites like this are followed.
• We will publish more information on our website based on the questions residents have asked us so that everyone can be aware of the facts.

We will continue to keep residents updated as we carry out these extra actions.