A PRECEDENT could be set if housebuilders are given permission to build on a site set aside as green space, a Council planner has warned.

Jane Scott, a senior planner at Bradford Council, gave evidence at a planning inquiry yesterday which is looking into whether homes should be built on an area designated as 'urban green space' in Thackley.

Bradford Council turned down the scheme last year, but developer Persimmon Homes has taken the matter to appeal.

In a written statement, Ms Scott said the scheme, at Cote Farm, off Leeds Road, "could set a precedent leading to cumulative losses in these areas".

Ms Scott said the area of urban green space "provides a critical area of open space within an otherwise built up area".

She said the Crooked Lane bridleway, which runs along one side of the site, was "clearly regularly used and valued by horse-riders, cyclists, walkers and those walking dogs".

She said: "The site offers a sense of relief from the surrounding urban area and an experience of relative tranquility and absence of intrusive activities."

Cross-examining, Persimmon Homes' lawyer, Richard Sagar pointed out Bradford Council's failure to set aside a five-year supply of housing land for builders to develop on, as it was required to do. Ms Scott said she did not dispute this.

Mr Sagar asked whether the Council would have to release more green belt in this area to meet its housing targets, if the Cote Farm site was not developed.

Ms Scott said: "Yes. I will acknowledge that could be a possibility."

Resident Jeff Thelwell, a member of the Idle and Thackley Environmental Group, spoke to object to the scheme.

He said: "The environmental group has talked to an awful lot of people who use the lane and the fields on top for quietude.

"They enjoy the peace."

Mr Thelwell, of Cyprus Drive, said he himself enjoyed walking up the bridleway of Crooked Lane, which runs along one side of the site.

He said: "It is a very quiet and peaceful half-hour in what can be a very noisy atmosphere. We have traffic on the roads 24-hours-a-day."

Ward councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) also raised concerns that the case under discussion could set a precedent.

Cllr Sunderland said she had been staggered by the strength of public feeling against the scheme.

She said the site played an important role in "marking the end of Bradford and the beginning of Shipley" and also as an area of tranquility.

She said: "We have a growing young population. We need to find places for them to live but we also need to leave spaces for them to breathe."

Developer Persimmon Homes opened its case yesterday afternoon, by calling its first witness, landscape design consultant Tom Robinson.

Mr Robinson said Bradford had a "very complex interweaving" of settlements and undeveloped land, both within the countryside and in its urban core.

He said: "It's what makes Bradford Bradford and it has a very wide range of landscapes."

But Mr Robinson said the Cote Farm site was "not land that is publicly available for sport and recreation".

He said ecologists had assessed it as being "at best, semi-improved grassland with some areas of small copses and mature and natural trees".

Mr Robinson said the Campaign to Protect Rural England had categorised areas in terms of their levels of tranquility, and this site was at the lower end of the scale.

He said the Aire Valley, as it followed the river, was a more tranquil local area.

The inquiry continues.