A SENIOR councillor last night warned that a decision to overturn the Council's refusal of a housing scheme on a designated urban greenspace could have devastating consequences for the district .

Seventy homes can be built at Sandhill Fold, Idle Moor, a Government planning inspector has ruled.

But the leader of Bradford Council's Liberal Democrat group believes "every blade of grass in the district is now at risk", because the authority has failed to set aside enough land for housing.

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said the people behind the plans for Sandhill Fold, Idle Moor, have successfully argued that the lack of land supply for housing outweighed the designation of the site as urban greenspace nine years ago.

National rules dictate local authorities should have a five-year supply of housing sites which developers can choose from. But Bradford’s supply would only last for 2.3 years.

More land will be set aside through the Council’s Local Plan, a development blueprint which is being created, but the plan is not expected to be in place until 2017.

Councillor Val Slater, executive member for planning at the Labour-run Bradford Council, said: "It is no surprise to me that the appeal has been allowed, because this is precisely what I have been saying for a number of months - that we are vulnerable to this kind of thing until we get the Local Plan in place.

"I have been pushing so hard to get a Local Plan in place as soon as I can."

Cllr Slater said until Bradford had a Local Plan, national policy meant that each case for housing development would be considered on its merits.

She said: "Until then we will be vulnerable to developers wanting to build on green spaces like Sandhill Fold."

The appeal involves outline plans for 70 homes at Sandhill Fold, which the Council refused in July, because the land is earmarked as urban greenspace.

But the applicants, Mr Wood, Mr Shaw and MGL Homes, appealed this decision, arguing that the Council had failed to allocate enough land for housing and that its land designations are effectively out-of-date.

The planning agent William Cartwright told the Telegraph & Argus the applicants will now look to find a developer to take the site forward and who will then prepare the reserved matters application.

"It is envisaged that this will include further consultation with the local authority and the community," he said.

COMMENT: DECISION PUTS ALL OUR GREEN SPACES AT RISK

Cllr Sunderland said she was "incredibly disappointed" by the decision of Planning Inspector Ian Radcliffe, which was published yesterday following an public hearing in December.

She said: "It will be the end of 2017 before the Local Plan is in place, so for the next three years developers will be able to argue a lack of land supply and will pick on areas of urban greenspace."

But Cllr Slater said this would be the "absolute worst case scenario" and there could be some protection in place later this year, if the core strategy of the Local Plan is accepted by Government planning inspectors.

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