The Bradford councillor in charge of planning last night described Shipley MP Philip Davies’s claims that the authority is solving a boom in its inner city population by building over Aire Valley greenfield sites as “appalling”.

Councillor Val Slater refuted comments by the Conservative MP, who has claimed the Council’s urge to build on greenfield sites in his constituency is a “senseless answer” to the needs of its an increase in the city centre population, creating country homes which those people simply do not want.

Speaking after reading his views in the Telegraph & Argus yesterday, Coun Slater said Mr Davies should write to his own Planning Minister Nick Boles, who has stated that swathes of countryside will have to be sacrificed to build new homes for immigrants.

“I was appalled and disgusted by his comments,” she said. “I don’t dispute the fact that we need buildings in the city centre, but I think there’s evidence to show that of all planning applications that were approved in the last year, 92 per cent of them were built on brownfield sites, not just in the city centre, but across the city.

“Also, since 2009 we have reduced the number of empty homes in the district by about 3,000. Mr Davies should give us credit for that.”

The MP said the Council was using its need for more city centre housing as an excuse “to concrete over his constituency” and there was no logic to its attitude.

But Coun Slater refuted the claim saying: “We have no plans to do that.”

She added the Council was drawing up its local plan for Bradford to set out its “core strategy” for planning and said the Council encouraged people to “build on brownfield sites first”.

Coun Slater said there would be “plenty of opportunities” for people to give their views for and against sites earmarked for development when it was in a position to announce them and thanked the Telegraph & Argus for encouraging people to identify brownfield sites for development through our Save Our Green Spaces campaign.