Eastburn'S green fields could be saved from the threat of massive development due to a shake-up at the last council elections, the Herald can reveal.

The village is faced with 200 new homes, which will almost double its size.

The houses are being proposed by Taywood Homes on a site that has been earmarked for development under Bradford's planning blueprint - the Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

And they include the building of a new roundabout outside the village's store and chip shop.

Now Bradford Council's Conservative group is scrutinising the site again after winning control following the May elections.

It says although it cannot take the fields completely out of the plan, it will fight any talk of development.

Coun Anne Hawkesworth, the council's executive member for the environment, said house builders should look at using reclaimed sites before plundering green fields.

She told the Herald: "We insist that developers try harder to use brownfield sites for housing.

"Green fields are valuable in their own right and must be conserved for as long as possible.

"I believe the current UDP, which was adopted in 1998 under the previous administration, allocated too many sites in the Craven ward as suitable for housing. We are now re-examining the Eastburn site.

"We are aware of local concerns and are committed to resisting the development of this site. However, there are planning obstacles which probably mean that we will be unable to completely remove it from the UDP."

Eastburn villagers had been gearing up for a hard battle with planners over the site between Eastburn House and Airedale Hospital.

Lyndon Newton, chairman of the Eastburn Action Group, said there were many reasons for refusing any application to build on the site.

"I'm not against development in Eastburn - you can't stop progress - but this is just swamping the village," he said.

"We're talking about a large patch of meadow land which is a natural habitat for wildlife. If developments as big as this are allowed to go ahead then villages such as Eastburn will lose their identities and when that goes, community spirit goes with it."

South Craven's sewer system still holds the key to throwing out the homes plan, says Eastburn councillor David Emmott.

It has been shown that the main sewer pipe would not be able to cope with an influx of new development, although a drainage expert has ruled this is no different to any other area across the UK.

"I can't see how the plan could be approved with the sewerage system as it is," said Coun Emmott, who is also chairman of Steeton-with-Eastburn Parish Council.

"Putting such a large number of houses in a place like Eastburn is ridiculous.

"If you look at the plans you can see where the developer has left the ends of the roads open, and that can only pave the way for more houses.

"A development the size of this is just too much for the village to cope with."