A CAMPAIGNER has written to a planning inspector urging him to turn down plans to build on green fields at Thackley.

Developer Persimmon Homes is fighting for permission to build more than 200 homes at centuries-old farmland at Cote Farm.

But Isobel Burgess, of the Cote Farm Action Group, said the site, and the Crooked Lane bridleway which runs through it, provided "a huge array of recreational purposes" from horse riding to cycling.

She said the local response to the scheme had been "simply overwhelming", with more than 1,000 objectors raising concerns about congestion, pressure on schools and loss of green space.

She said: "I cannot stress enough how much this green space at Cote Farm and Crooked Lane is valued by residents and the local community."

Miss Burgess' letter was handed in on the final day of a five-day planning inquiry being held at City Hall, Bradford.

The land has been set aside by Bradford Council as urban green space, and the Council refused permission for the scheme last year, but Persimmon lodged an appeal.

In Persimmon's final submission to the inquiry, the developer's lawyer Richard Sagar said Bradford Council had failed to set aside a five-year supply of land for housing, as it was required to do.

He said the Council's own housing targets, currently being considered by the Government, were expected to require 4,400 new homes for north-east Bradford.

He said: "The evidence is clear that there is a pressing need for new housing development."

The inquiry heard that if permission was granted, 15 per cent of the new homes were likely to be allocated for affordable housing.

The developer would also make contributions to allow Parkland Primary School and Emmanuel College to expand, as well as contributing to recreation grounds at Thackley Old Road, Ellar Carr or both, and funding improved bus stops.

Eric Owen, lawyer for Bradford Council, said in his closing statement that the scheme would have an "unacceptable impact on openness".

He said detailed plans for 60 of the homes also showed they would cause "irreversible" harm to the setting of the Grade II listed building, Cote Farm.

And ward councillor Jeanette Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) said in a written statement: "We say that due to population expansion we accept that Bradford will have to grow.

"But with that growth, spaces such as Cote Farm become even more important; providing not only an historical record but a much-needed quiet breathing space in a busy, increasingly urban area."

Cllr Sunderland said more than 1,300 new homes were "on the stocks" in the local area, including housing being built by Miller Homes at Simpson Green.

She said: "I would say that given Miller Homes went on site yesterday that the market for new homes in Idle and Thackley is probably full. This is not a development that is urgently required, regardless of the lack of a five year supply."

Planning inspector Clive Hughes is expected to make a written decision in the coming months.