Bradford Telegraph and Argus: Keighley LDF

In the 18th of a series of 27 articles analysing the key study into the availability of land in Bradford, reporter Kathryn Bradley looks in depth at the possibilities for housing sites in Keighley.

Proposals to build more than 5,000 new homes in Keighley could attract investment to the town, a councillor has claimed.

Bradford Council has identified more than 70 sites in and around Keighley as suitable for development over the next 17 years as part of its Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA).

Almost half are earmarked for green field sites while the remainder are proposed for mixed use or previously developed land.

Keighley West Ward councillor Jan Smithies said the proposals weren't necessarily bad news and could bring welcome investment to the area.

She said: "My understanding of the Local Development Framework (LDF) is that it is about the whole thing including infrastructure and jobs, not just about where the houses will go.

"I think sometimes we lose that when we are talking about it. If we have got houses we have got to make sure we have got the infra-structure to go with it, such as schools, roads, car parking and health services."

Coun Smithies said companies would provide more services if there were more people in the area to buy them.

She said Keighley was a growing town and that had already attracted major investment, including the planned Worth Valley Shopping Centre and the proposed hotel, housing and leisure complex at the Chatsworth Works site.

Bradford Council is looking find room for 45,500 homes across the district by 2028.

Areas available for possible housing schemes have been identified in the SHLAA and the proposals are under public consultation.

The document will eventually form part of Bradford's Local Development Framework - a key planning document which will shape the future of house building.

Coun Smithies warned that enough suitable sites for housing must be identified now to prevent developers building wherever they wanted to in the future.

She added: "We are required by the Government to build 45,500 houses across the district. If everybody says we don't want those houses we can't listen to them, but we will listen to their views about where they should go.

"We need to get as many of these houses on brown field sites as possible, of which there are quite a number around Keighley. What I will be trying to do as a councillor is to make sure developers build on brown field sites first and safeguard green field sites as a last resort."

Mayor of Keighley Coun Tony Wright questioned the need for so many houses in the town and argued empty properties must be filled before more are built.

He said: "I drive through the Woodhouse Estate on my way home and I am amazed at the number of empty properties there are. We need to make sure there are tenants in these properties before we build any new homes.

"Another problem is that builders always want to build executive homes on green field site so they can get the best returns but it is not the sort of houses we need.

Everybody has a right to a decent house, but there is no point building thousands of new properties in Keighley if no one can afford to live in them."

Coun Wright said he didn't believe Keighley was coping with the current levels of housing and said its infrastructure needed investment.

He said: "You just have to travel through town to see there hasn't been any investment in transport infrastructure of any significance for decades. The sewers in certain areas can't cope, the trains can't cope and the schools are full.

"We talk about more than 5,000 houses which represents Bracken Bank, Braithwaite and Woodhouse estates put together.

"One thing about the LDF is that is doesn't say where all the money is coming from for the infrastructure the residents of these houses will need."

THE LONG-TERM LAND STRATEGY

The Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) is a technical document which will provide a pool of sites from which to select land to be allocated for housing when preparing the Local Development Framework.

The Framework is a blueprint that will manage development and growth across the district over the next 15 years.

Consultation on it's core strategy document, which sets out a long-term spatial vision for the district until 2028, is continuing. It sets out broad locations for development and policies that will influence the use of land and the type and scale of development permitted, as well as identifying key infrastructure requirements.

The overall Local Development Framework is expected to come into effect in 2013 with consultation over specific land allocations taking place during 2012.

Sites included in the current SHLAA may not make it into the land allocations documents and final framework. In addition further potential sites could be identified as the assessment is updated every year.