Plans for 135 houses in Keighley “fail in just about everything” and should not go ahead, according to the town council.

The application for farmland on Shann Lane was submitted last month and came before the council’s planning committee last night. After a detailed presentation by one objector, councillors declined to support the new estate.

Submitted by Ove Arup on behalf of the Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement, the controversial planning application had attracted numerous objections before the meeting, including by local environmental group BANDAG (Braithwaite and North Dean Action Group), a petition by local residents and Bradford Council’s environment agency.

At last night’s meeting, an objector showed councillors photos of narrow roads around the site and problems caused by water running off the field.

He worries 135 houses will make the traffic situation much worse and lead to flooding of surrounding properties and roads.

He added: “There are lots of brownfield sites around Keighley. I have looked and in the last few months planning permission has been given for 550 houses in the area. They can’t really justify this. There are 270 properties in Keighley on sale for less than £89,000. If we focused on them it would re-generate the local area and put people in a more suitable place where there are actually services.”

They heard the Environment Agency had objected because officers were unconvinced the area would cope with the extra water and sewage, leaving the estate prone to flooding.

The committee unanimously voted to object to the plans, which will ultimately be decided by Bradford Council early next year. The field is currently used for farming.

A statement from BANDAG released yesterday also slammed the application, claiming it would needlessly eat into green land when there were brownfield sites available in Keighley.

It said: “Whilst Keighley has a huge bank of suitable cleared brownfield sites with services and close to all amenities, developers are allowed to bank such lands and force the freeing up of greenfield sites. BANDAG asks that the council overturn this practice.”