A high-ranking politician has admitted branding Silsden's local councillors as 'donkeys' in an interview conducted by the BBC's Panorama programme.

Cllr Jack Womersley has defended his actions, saying he did not mean them as an insult. However, Silsden officials are not amused.

Cllr Womersley, a senior fireman, made the statement during a recorded interview in Silsden in front of campaigners battling against plans which will see the town swamped with hundreds of new homes.

He was chairman of Bradford council's policy and plans committee which helped to put together the area's unitary development plan (UDP) which made the decision on which land would be built on. But in Silsden acres of green belt land, until now left virtually unspoiled, will be swallowed up by houses.

Cllr Womersley's comments came as he was confronted about the UDP by Silsden Town Action Group member, parish councillor and local environmentalist Keith Norris.

Part of the interview is expected to be shown during a programme on town planning which will be shown on Monday night.

Cllr Womersley claims that the Craven ward's Tory councillors at the time of the UDP proposals could have done a lot more for the town than they did. "It seems to me they just sat on their hands and did nothing," he says.

During the conversation he called the councillors 'donkeys', claiming they went along with what was suggested and failed to put up a fight to save the threatened green land.

"They had access to a number of meetings where areas of land were considered and given the opportunity to suggest alternative sites," he says. "Someone referred to the local members as lions with their teeth pulled and I said they were donkeys because they took no part in the UDP process.

"I knew there was a famous quote about lions and donkeys but I couldn't remember it."

He says he does not see it as an insult to his fellow Bradford council colleagues, but that he felt they had ample opportunity to oppose the plans for Silsden.

In response, Cllr Norris brands Cllr Womersley an autocrat and a bully. He says Bradford council had used the words 'colourful', 'beautiful' and 'unique' when describing the green belt land earmarked for housing, yet it still proposed to build on it. "I told him it was outrageous for him to refer to the councillors in such a manner," he says.

Craven Tory councillor David Harrison says he finds Cllr Womer-sley's comments 'very rude'. "Are donkeys not hard workers?" he asks.

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