More than 100 homes could be built next to the Bradford Bulls ground, where a previous scheme stalled because of the economic downturn.

The brownfield site, a priority for development, has been lying vacant since a former hospital was pulled down.

Persimmon Homes has now applied to build 115 homes on the 2.7-hectare site, next to Odsal Stadium in Rooley Avenue.

Councillor David Robinson (Ind, Wyke) welcomed the news, saying houses were badly needed in the area.

Previous plans by Doncaster developer Strata Homes to build 174 homes on the site had been mothballed due to the recession.

Coun Robinson said he had met new developer Persimmon, which had assured him that work would start as soon as permission was given.

He said: “I specifically asked, it’s fine getting planning permission but that and actually starting the development can be two different things.

“They assured me that as soon as they get planning permission, the site will be developed.

“What has happened in the past, and it is still happening, is that developers are getting planning permission but because of the economic conditions, they are not developing – they are landbanking.”

The land was once home to Northern View Hospital and before that housed the Bowling Park Poor Law Institute.

The site is allocated as a phase one housing site in Bradford’s Unitary Development Plan and is therefore considered a priority for development.

Outline planning permission had been granted in 2005 and the NHS had sold the site to Strata, subject to contract, before the recession.

But Wakefield property agents Holroyd Miller put the land on the market again in 2011, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health, after the plan stalled.

A competing Bradford Council idea, to include the land in a scheme redeveloping Odsal Stadium and building an Odsal Sporting Village, had also hit funding difficulties.

Persimmon has now applied to build a mixture of detached and semi-detached homes.

Bradford is facing a housing crisis, with nearly 21,000 low-income individuals and families trapped on social housing waiting lists.