LIVES could be lost in road accidents if a housing development was allowed to go ahead on land in the heart of Addingham, a Government inspector was told this week.

But the owners of the land maintained that the chances of road accidents happening would remain the same whether the development went ahead or not, because the access to the site was already used by vehicles.

Bradford Council highway engineer Robert Taylor warned that drivers of cars leaving Lodge Hill would increase the risk of crashes on Main Street.

Mr Taylor said: "Due to the sub-standard nature of the Lodge Hill junction, drivers of cars leaving Lodge Hill would not achieve satisfactory visibility for themselves, or be seen by other road users, until a substantial part of the vehicle is projecting out into the B6160."

The appeal inquiry was prompted by Bradford Council's refusal of a planning application to build two houses on a small parcel of land in the heart of Addingham's Conservation Area.

The applicants were Robert Roe and the trustees to the estate of A Thornton, who wanted to build the two houses with garages and seven parking spaces on land bounded by Victoria Terrace, Lodge Hill and Druggist Lane.

At Ilkley Town Hall, Department of the Environment planning inspector Jean Jones said she would listen to the parties before making an official site inspection.

Bradford Council's reasons for refusing the development were that it would cause additional traffic dangers, damage the character of the Conservation Area and dominate surrounding properties.

Bradford planning officer Philip Raper told the hearing: "It is recognised that the upper part of the site is overgrown and unsightly, but the council does not, even in a Conservation Area, regard the condition of the land as a justification in itself for a development that might be inappropriate in other respects."

He said: "The proposed siting of the new dwellings would be at odds with the character and grain of this part of the Conservation Area. The council does not accept therefore, that the form and development proposed in the appeal would enhance the existing character and appearance of the Conservation Area."

Michael Allison, the Ilkley agent acting for owners of the land, said the area would be improved by the development.

He said: "The access already serves three garages in the appellant's ownership and the garage was previously used for a commercial purpose - traffic generation exists now. We are not making the conditions any worse and the application should be judged against that criteria.

"There is no history of accidents relating to the site itself. A great deal is being made of how dangerous this access is but the facts do not bear this out. The access is being used successfully by four residents already."

The plot of land has a history of rejected planning applications and an earlier appeal to the Department of the Environment was dismissed. Addingham Parish Council has opposed the latest development and chairman Gordon Campbell attended the inquiry.

He said: "We consider this to be the heart of the village - we just feel that the proposed development is not in keeping with that section of the village."

He also said that traffic in the area had increased since the Bradford schools re-organisation had closed the village First School and channelled all the children into Addingham Primary School on Bolton Road.

A short time ago, the parish council inquired about buying the land itself in order to turn it, and an adjacent plot owned by Bradford Council, into a village green space but it proved too expensive to go ahead with the project.

The new plan came about after the death of the owner of part of the site in the year 2000. The trustees of the estate wanted to combine with Mr Roe, who owns another part of the site, to produce an acceptable planning application.

Mrs Jones is expected to give her decision on the appeal in a few weeks' time.