A GOVERNMENT minister has been accused of halting Bradford Council’s development blueprint as a “mate’s favour”.

Housing Minister Gavin Barwell this week wrote to the council telling it to stop work on its Local Plan while the Government looked into concerns raised by Shipley’s Conservative MP, Philip Davies.

Mr Davies had highlighted the proposed scale of building on the green belt, particularly in his constituency.

But Shadow Housing Secretary John Healey has said the move “smacks of a political ‘mate’s favour’” in a letter to Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid.

His letter said: “According to the Housing Minister this decision was taken merely because a fellow Conservative MP wrote in complaint.”

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said any claims of impropriety were false and that the Local Plan had simply been paused to allow Mr Javid to consider the issues raised.

Mr Davies added: “This complaint from the Labour Party shows they have no concern for my constituents and the green belt around the constituency.”