A man has hit out at Bradford Council's response to claims that it ignored warnings about potential problems with the Aire Valley sewer.

John Walker, of Halsteads Way, Steeton, says the Council has fudged the issue about the Aire Valley sewer after it was revealed that the National Rivers Authority (NRA) warned about potential problems back in 1993.

He is angry about a response made by a Council spokesman which said: "Neither the National Rivers Authority nor its successor, the Environment Agency, has ever said that certain sites in the Aire Valley should not be allocated for development because of issues concerning the sewerage system."

Mr Walker argues that although the report from the NRA doesn't mention specific areas, it actually refers to the whole length of the Aire Valley sewer from Cowling to Marley in Keighley.

And he argues that development, even on a small scale, should not have taken place along the Aire Valley sewer until adequate checks had been made.

Mr Walker said: "The NRA response states that only minimal development should take place from sites which discharge into the Keighley low level sewer, as the capacity of the sewer is not accurately known and there have been problems with it.

"All sites in Silsden, Steeton and Eastburn discharge into the Keighley low level sewer, therefore only minimal development should have taken place, instead of thousands of houses built there under Bradford's UDP."

The National Rivers Authority (NRA) sent a detailed report to Bradford Council in 1993 which suggested that only "minimal development" should take place until the capacity of the sewer was known.

The report was compiled by the NRA in response to Bradford's draft Unitary Development Plan, its blueprint for the future development of the district.

The NRA report said: "Previous correspondence from Bradford Metropoli-tan Main Drainage suggests that the capacity of this sewer is not accurately known.

"I would suggest therefore that minimal development occurs until such time as its capacity is known and until such time that it is of adequate capacity."

Recognising the problems reported by residents the report also recommended opposition to any major developments, "until such time as there is an adequate sewage system".

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