A relief road will have to be built if plans for a new housing estate in Otley are to go ahead.

Housing giant Persimmon Homes (West Yorkshire) is set to submit a planning application for homes linked to a new East of Otley relief road.

Although the developer has not said how many houses it wants to build, 20 hectares of land to the east of the Cambridge estate is earmarked for 500 homes in a Leeds Council blueprint.

But Persimmon says the development depends on the building of a relief road.

At a meeting last month of Otley Town Council, Leeds' acting assistant director of highways Peter Dickinson hinted that major developments were about to happen in Otley.

A spokeswoman for Persim-mon Homes Ltd said: "At this moment in time, Persimmon Homes Ltd has not yet submitted a planning application, but the land is allocated in the draft Leeds Unitary Development Plan and it does require the construction of the new relief road."

The Persimmons plan is not the only major development mooted for Otley. Detailed plans for around 100 homes at Rumplecroft, in North Otley, are expected to be submitted some time next year. And Sainsbury's plans for a store in Bondgate should also be decided shortly.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.