Green Belt plans come under attack (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Green Belt plans come under attack

5:00am Monday 1st December 2008 in News By Ben Barnett

Emma Crossland-Stephen, of Bradford Council, with resident Paul Hustler

Plans to release Green Belt land for thousands of houses on the edge of a Bradford estate have gone on display.

Residents in Holme Wood, Bradford, cast their eyes over the plans for up to 5,000 new homes on land to the east of the estate, towards Tong village, at a public consultation event on Saturday.

It was a chance for Bradford Council to gauge reaction to the scale of the development before more detailed plans are drawn up in the Spring.

The homes would be built within 20 years and would help the Council meet a Government target to built 50,000 homes in the district by 2026.

Holme Wood is one of four ‘housing growth points’ identified by planners as prime locations for residential development.

Seventy per cent of the district’s housing growth will be accommodated within Bradford, Shipley and Lower Baildon.

Some residents were disappointed at the prospect of losing the land.

Michelle Morgan, 40, who lives in Fieldside Close overlooking the Green Belt, said: “I go walking on the greenbelt and it’s abundant in beautiful birds and wildlife. I would prefer smaller pockets of development and improving what we have on the existing estate.”

Holme Wood’s vicar, Canon Gordon Dey, said: “I’m certainly not against growth in Holme Wood as there is a need for better use of open space and significant development within the estate, but not outside of it.

“The right way for Holme Wood to grow is from within, not with a big new community built alongside it.”

Ward councillor John Ruding (Lab, Tong) said he was in favour of “selective use” of the Green Belt.

He said: “Five thousand homes is simply not acceptable. There are many other places in the district that can sustain that kind of development but this isn’t one of them.”

Fellow councillor Michael Johnson (Lab, Tong) said: “Green Belt is there for a purpose. It is something that we would fight for but there is potential where there is scrubland on the edge of the Green Belt that could be used.”

Protected woodland would not give way to any development and the creation of a countryside park will be considered, while green space in Holme Wood would be improved using money from developers.

A new link road joining Tyersal Lane with Westgate Hill Street and a new railway station in Laisterdyke are also mooted.

Any development of the Green Belt is not anticipated to begin before 2016.

Saturday’s consultation event at the TFD Centre in Broadstone Way was organised by the Council’s planning department and Streets Ahead and included a Christmas fair.