With pressure on available building land in the Bradford district growing and the land itself becoming more costly for developers to acquire, housing developments are becoming increasingly high-density and taller. There are more and more three-storey homes and sometimes even four-storey ones being built, often in blocks of three or four, while the space between properties is shrinking. Some householders with room to spare in their gardens are selling it off to a builder or having a house built in it to sell themselves, often close to their own home and that of their next-door neighbour.

While that may be no problem to the people who subsequently buy those properties, it can be very upsetting to nearby residents who lose their open aspect and find their homes overlooked.

That is the fear of residents in Chapel Road, Crossflatts, who claim their privacy would be lost if 24 three-storey properties are built close to the gardens of their bungalows. They say the bedroom windows of some of the new homes would look into their living rooms.

That obviously would be unacceptable to them, as it would be to just about anyone. Their local councillor says that the application seems to be about cramming as many homes as possible on to the available land with no thought put into the impact on the local area.

That is something planning councillors need to take into account when considering this application and others. They have the difficult task of striking a balance between the need for new homes to accommodate Bradford's growing population and the rights of existing residents.