A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build on farmland has been given the final all-clear.

A planning committee gave full approval to a plan to build 27 homes on farmland at Heaton, Bradford, despite objections from a number of local groups.

The plan, for Ashwell Farm, Ashwell Road, Heaton, Bradford, already had outline planning consent but yesterday came back before councillors to discuss matters like the appearance, landscaping and layout of the development.

But the Heaton Woods Trust objected strongly to the plan, saying some of the land covered by the application actually belonged to the trust.

John Tempest, who was speaking on behalf of the trust's management committee, urged councillors to consider the land ownership problem."

Legal advisor Tim Driver said the plans had originally included land owned by the trust.

He said: "It does show an area which is definitely owned by the trust. That has now been amended and that land is excluded from what you are considering today."

The committee also heard objections from the Heaton Township Association and St Barnabas' Church.

Ward councillor Nussrat Mohammed (Lab, Heaton) also spoke to the panel.

She said all three ward councillors were opposed to the development.

She said: "They agree in principle that the land is wasteland at the moment, and that it needs to be used in a constructive way for the community.

"But the density of the housing that the developer is proposing is not acceptable. It is going to put pressure on the local schools, local amenities, the use of roads and also in terms of the impact on wildlife."

Cllr Mohammed acknowledged they were short of housing in the area, but called for a compromise to be reached.

Applicant Asghar Choudhury said: "So far as I am concerned, I have worked with the council for five years and I have complied with all their requirements, so I will leave it to the committee to decide."

Committee member, Councillor Shabir Hussain, said: "I have sympathy with the Heaton Woods Trust but it is not sympathy that matters, it is planning laws."

Councillor Jackie Whiteley asked for more planting between the site and a nearby school, while Councillor Doreen Lee said she wanted the trees and shrubs which were to be planted to be good quality so it did not turn into a wilderness.

The committee approved the application.

A DECISION over a plan to build 104 homes in Allerton, Bradford, has been deferred. The plan, for a housing development on fields off Ryedale Way, was put to one side by councillors at the Regulatory and Appeals committee yesterday after members asked for more information about drainage and highways issues at the site.