THE planned demolition of an Ilkley public house could be the ideal opportunity to provide the town with more 'affordable' housing, according to a district councillor.

In a joint planning application, Miller Homes (Yorkshire) and Whitbread Group plc have applied to demolish the Wharfedale Gate public house on Leeds Road and build 25 homes in its place.

But Ilkley district councillor Anne Hawkesworth sees the application as an opportunity for Bradford Council and a housing association to grab the site for affordable housing.

"I think it would be a good site for affordable housing. Any house building on a restricted site is going to be more affordable than those on the fringe of Ilkley," said Coun Hawkesworth.

The provision of homes for the less well-off in Ilkley has been a thorny issue for some time with many people born and brought up in the area having to leave because of high house prices.

The development of 50 homes taking place on the former International Wool Secretariat site on Valley Drive will see the provision of around a dozen 'affordable' homes, but land prices everywhere make it difficult to build more.

They have to be provided by a three-way agreement between developers, housing associations and Bradford Council.

As a result of the former Ilkley College development, Bradford has around £400,000 with which to buy land for affordable housing and Coun Hawkesworth thinks the Leeds Road site could be a good opportunity to follow up.

"There is money in the bank - I would have thought that there would be a good possibility that might be looked into," said Coun Hawkesworth.

The Wharfedale Gate application is to build 15 three-story town houses and ten apartments within two three-storey blocks.

The chairman of Ilkley Parish Council planning committee, Audrey Brand, said she could not discuss the plans in detail with the Gazette until the committee had debated them on Monday night.

But she agreed in principle that a housing development on the site of the public house could include an element of affordable housing. Staff at the Wharfedale Gate, which is