People concerned about plans for thousands of new homes across the South Craven area must make their views known this winter, warns a Silsden councillor.

Adrian Naylor, who represents Craven ward on Bradford Council, urged residents to express their views to the council once the proposals are published towards the year end.

He said it was vital that people in communities like Addingham, Silsden, Steeton and Eastburn had their say on the Local Plan, which will reveal the council’s preferred locations for up to 45,000 new houses in Bradford district over the next 15 years.

Coun Naylor said the plan would be published in November and following discussion by councillors in December, the public would be given 12 weeks to make comments.

He said: “The concern for Silsden and Steeton is that we need to ensure there is sufficient co-ordination with North Yorkshire County Council.

“We could have lots of houses between Silsden, Steeton and Skipton, which has an impact on schools, transport and infrastructure such as sewerage.

“We don’t want to see greenfield sites cherry-picked by developers. The need in Bradford district is for affordable houses for young families. The cheaper sites are brownfield.”

Coun Naylor expected the Local Plan to earmark fields between Brunthwaite and Cringles as the location for most of Silsden’s new housing development.