'Thornton would be stretched even more by building’

A total of 700 new homes could be built in Thornton according to draft plans by Bradford Council as part of its Local Development Framework.

The district-wide blueprint gives a broad approach to where 45,500 homes could be built across the district until 2028.

Land will be allocated later this year providing the locations where the homes that are needed could be built.

A strategic assessment of available land in Thornton identifies a total of 15 sites as having the potential for house building. Planners believe 14 of these plots could be delivered within the timeframe with 11 classed as greenfield sites and two as previously developed land – or brownfield – while another is mixed.

In total Council planners believe the 25.17 hectares of land could accommodate 768 homes, which is more than the target in the draft LDF. Seven are classed as suitable for development now. A further seven are potentially suitable given policy constraints, such as being safeguarded land or in the green belt.

The report states: “There are still a number of housing sites in Thornton identified in the RUDP which are available and could be developed in the short-term.

“Further sites have been assessed as having housing potential in the green belt and on safeguarded land in the settlement and could begin to come forward from the medium period. The topography of the land in the settlement and narrow access roads to the north side of the villages may constrain development to the long term period of the trajectory.”

Sites suitable in the short term include that of a former tip at Thornton Road on which 67 homes of different sizes are under construction; and a plot at Close Head Lead which has outline permission and could provide the space for 55 homes.

Smaller sites, including a parcel of land at Sapgate Lane which has been earmarked for housing in the RUDP, would provide 21 homes and a former mill building at James Street has permission for conversion to 18 flats.

In the medium term, suitable sites include one for 132 homes at Thornton Road which is grazing land in more than one ownership. The site of Dole and Prospect Mills at Thornton Road could accommodate 75 homes. The mill is listed and would be suitable for conversion with new development on the land to the west. There has been some interest in developing the site.

In addition unused land on the edge of Thornton at Old Road, School Green, could provide for 72 homes.

The site has been identified as a housing site in the RUDP.

In the longer term, there are three sites all of which have policy constraints due to being in the green belt or are safeguarded land.

The largest of these are level fields at Spring Holes Lane and planners believe 60 homes could be built there despite it not sitting well with the “urban form”.

Conservative ward councillor Michael McCabe has expressed concern over an apparent lack of demand for housing in the village.

He said: “A concern is that in recent years a number of new homes that have been built have not been filled. That points to a lack of demand.

“The trouble is that Thornton is a very linear settlement and by constantly building in a linear way you are, in my opinion, breaking down communities – they become stretched.”

He also said that he was a great believer in brownfield land being built on first, and that an additional 700 homes could bring 3,000 people, when the population of the village is already about 5,000 at the moment.

Comments(21)

Siouxie says...
9:39am Fri 6 Jan 12

What is happening to 'England's green and pleasant land'? theres newly built houses all over the area that are still for sale, why build more when they can't sell them? there will be no green fields or open spaces left anywhere soon!

angry bradfordian says...
9:47am Fri 6 Jan 12

'a plot at Close Head Lead' actually involves digging up half of Thornton Cemetery; a lovely green space.

I'd have thought that was a reasonably important fact to mention in the story!

BCFC86 says...
9:58am Fri 6 Jan 12

Every day we hear of plans for houses on the green belt.
This is madness, the Council never mentions plans for improved roads etc. can you imagine doubling the traffic in Thornton Road.
Mr Greenwood get a grip, you are paid to look after the interests of Bradford not to destroy it.

FiT0598 says...
10:16am Fri 6 Jan 12

BCFC86 wrote:
Every day we hear of plans for houses on the green belt.
This is madness, the Council never mentions plans for improved roads etc. can you imagine doubling the traffic in Thornton Road.
Mr Greenwood get a grip, you are paid to look after the interests of Bradford not to destroy it.
Every day we hear the NIMBYS complaining.There is still plenty of greenbelt left contrary to the claims of the doom and gloom brainwashed green activists.

Thee Voice of Reason says...
10:36am Fri 6 Jan 12

FiT0598 wrote:
BCFC86 wrote: Every day we hear of plans for houses on the green belt. This is madness, the Council never mentions plans for improved roads etc. can you imagine doubling the traffic in Thornton Road. Mr Greenwood get a grip, you are paid to look after the interests of Bradford not to destroy it.
Every day we hear the NIMBYS complaining.There is still plenty of greenbelt left contrary to the claims of the doom and gloom brainwashed green activists.
When I was a lad, where I grew up there was a huge area of greenland used buy me, my friends and many other children in the area to play football, cricket, etc on.
.
Guess what it's is now all houses and where can the children play? Well nowhere, you drive through that area and they are hanging round on street corners.
.
Maybe you would like to see wall to wall houses and people crammed in like sardines but many don't.

angry bradfordian says...
10:40am Fri 6 Jan 12

FiT0598 wrote:
BCFC86 wrote:
Every day we hear of plans for houses on the green belt.
This is madness, the Council never mentions plans for improved roads etc. can you imagine doubling the traffic in Thornton Road.
Mr Greenwood get a grip, you are paid to look after the interests of Bradford not to destroy it.
Every day we hear the NIMBYS complaining.There is still plenty of greenbelt left contrary to the claims of the doom and gloom brainwashed green activists.
By your logic anybody who complains about absolutely anything could be called a NIMBY.

It's a bit patronising to suggest that anybody complaining had been brainwashed. Just because there is plenty of green belt left doesn't mean it needs to be dug up. The green spaces of Bradford are about the only reason left not to move out of Bradford for good.

thepointis says...
11:40am Fri 6 Jan 12

Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.

Thee Voice of Reason says...
11:47am Fri 6 Jan 12

thepointis wrote:
Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.
Where are the jobs for all the people who will use these houses?
.
Where are the services and infrastructor for all these people?
.
Why with Bradford having one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK should more homes be built to increase a population and therefore add to the high unemployed?
.
Or are you just like Diane Abbott, and make sweeping statements without any substance to it?

Maxpowers83 says...
11:51am Fri 6 Jan 12

We need more homes building - fact. People need places to live and a good building programme provides jobs and an income and money into the Treasury.

The problem is that all the plans so far seem to ignore the need for improved infrastructure and services to allow for an increase in people living in an area.

Any plans to increase the number of homes in an area by more than a specific percentage should include plans for dealing with the increased traffic on the roads and the need for more schools and other local services.

Thee Voice of Reason says...
12:00pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Maxpowers83 wrote:
We need more homes building - fact. People need places to live and a good building programme provides jobs and an income and money into the Treasury. The problem is that all the plans so far seem to ignore the need for improved infrastructure and services to allow for an increase in people living in an area. Any plans to increase the number of homes in an area by more than a specific percentage should include plans for dealing with the increased traffic on the roads and the need for more schools and other local services.
I have yet to see one news story on here about building new homes even address access to and from the area.
.
New schools, health centers, dentists, public transport etc.
.
I know an area within Bradford that was built on green belt land in 2000 that still doesn't have a bus services within 10min walk of most of the houses.
.
If any of these proposals are going to be taken seriously, plans must be laid out in full for additional infrastructure, services and transport.
.
None of the news stories have included areas next to me, but if they did I would be more inclinded to support them if they explained where all the extra children were to go to school, what extra bus services would be provided and what would be done to stop bottlenecks on the roads to and from the area.
.
All this is overlooked for the £'s raised in council tax though.

legallyblonde says...
12:33pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Why is the development always to the West of the City? We already have roads so congested it takes 30 mins to cross the City, where are the children going to go to school as the schools are already oversubscribed, the doctors surgeries are full, with the spate of mill fires in the centre and Bierley why can't those sites be used for housing. There has already been a huge estate built on Thronton Rd.

Thee Voice of Reason says...
1:06pm Fri 6 Jan 12

legallyblonde wrote:
Why is the development always to the West of the City? We already have roads so congested it takes 30 mins to cross the City, where are the children going to go to school as the schools are already oversubscribed, the doctors surgeries are full, with the spate of mill fires in the centre and Bierley why can't those sites be used for housing. There has already been a huge estate built on Thronton Rd.
Basically, the council has let the city turn into such a $hithole no body in their right mind wants to live there.
.
No developers would think twice about building there and any houses in those areas would probably be council tax cash sinks, rather than council tax cash cows.
.
Due to this the greenbelt land will get decimated without a second thought to how the local infrastructure will be effected.
.
Until the council come out and explain what plans are in place to cope with extra houses being dumped on villages on the outskirts of the Bradford district they can't be taken seriously.
.
Will the T&A press the council for plans for improvement to infrastructure rather than releasing these press releases?
.
Then maybe balanced responses can be given. If they provide satisfactory detail of improvement to infrastructure in the areas to cope with these plans. I doubt these has even been considered though.

Scooby1977 says...
1:32pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Why do they need to build more new homes, when there are several unfinished housing estates scattered around Bradford already? Would it not make more sense to finish building and actually manage to sell some of these first?? And who's going to live in them if they build them? no one can get a mortgage and anyone that can afford to, isn't going to want to live surrounded by a load of benefit scrounging layabouts, which is what the council will end up filling them with, or are we actually building them to allow even more asylum seekers move into Bradford? think that's more likely the case here!

thepointis says...
1:51pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote:
Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.
Where are the jobs for all the people who will use these houses?
.
Where are the services and infrastructor for all these people?
.
Why with Bradford having one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK should more homes be built to increase a population and therefore add to the high unemployed?
.
Or are you just like Diane Abbott, and make sweeping statements without any substance to it?
You will never get the infrastructure without the people to use it.
Their are plenty of jobs , just walk around the agencies in Bradford the only reason migrant workers (respect to them for their hard work ) are thriving in our town is they are willing to do the jobs we aren't .
They need to build more homes because there are many thousands of people who need them...do you have a home ?
Stop day dreaming and get real the jobs created by building many thousands of new homes will be a much needed boost to the area and would go some way to helping the local economy through the hard times we are all experiencing.

Thee Voice of Reason says...
2:11pm Fri 6 Jan 12

thepointis wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote: Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.
Where are the jobs for all the people who will use these houses? . Where are the services and infrastructor for all these people? . Why with Bradford having one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK should more homes be built to increase a population and therefore add to the high unemployed? . Or are you just like Diane Abbott, and make sweeping statements without any substance to it?
You will never get the infrastructure without the people to use it. Their are plenty of jobs , just walk around the agencies in Bradford the only reason migrant workers (respect to them for their hard work ) are thriving in our town is they are willing to do the jobs we aren't . They need to build more homes because there are many thousands of people who need them...do you have a home ? Stop day dreaming and get real the jobs created by building many thousands of new homes will be a much needed boost to the area and would go some way to helping the local economy through the hard times we are all experiencing.
So jobs are created by building homes. What when the houses are built. Then you have homes to live in but the jobs from building them have gone.

thepointis says...
2:17pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote: Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.
Where are the jobs for all the people who will use these houses? . Where are the services and infrastructor for all these people? . Why with Bradford having one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK should more homes be built to increase a population and therefore add to the high unemployed? . Or are you just like Diane Abbott, and make sweeping statements without any substance to it?
You will never get the infrastructure without the people to use it. Their are plenty of jobs , just walk around the agencies in Bradford the only reason migrant workers (respect to them for their hard work ) are thriving in our town is they are willing to do the jobs we aren't . They need to build more homes because there are many thousands of people who need them...do you have a home ? Stop day dreaming and get real the jobs created by building many thousands of new homes will be a much needed boost to the area and would go some way to helping the local economy through the hard times we are all experiencing.
So jobs are created by building homes. What when the houses are built. Then you have homes to live in but the jobs from building them have gone.
do you mean in around 10 years ?

Thee Voice of Reason says...
2:34pm Fri 6 Jan 12

thepointis wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote: Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.
Where are the jobs for all the people who will use these houses? . Where are the services and infrastructor for all these people? . Why with Bradford having one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK should more homes be built to increase a population and therefore add to the high unemployed? . Or are you just like Diane Abbott, and make sweeping statements without any substance to it?
You will never get the infrastructure without the people to use it. Their are plenty of jobs , just walk around the agencies in Bradford the only reason migrant workers (respect to them for their hard work ) are thriving in our town is they are willing to do the jobs we aren't . They need to build more homes because there are many thousands of people who need them...do you have a home ? Stop day dreaming and get real the jobs created by building many thousands of new homes will be a much needed boost to the area and would go some way to helping the local economy through the hard times we are all experiencing.
So jobs are created by building homes. What when the houses are built. Then you have homes to live in but the jobs from building them have gone.
do you mean in around 10 years ?
Why are Westfield building the houses?

thepointis says...
2:55pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote:
Thee Voice of Reason wrote:
thepointis wrote: Build build build....Bradford needs homes...cut red tape save money create jobs...get building.
Where are the jobs for all the people who will use these houses? . Where are the services and infrastructor for all these people? . Why with Bradford having one of the highest unemployment rates in the UK should more homes be built to increase a population and therefore add to the high unemployed? . Or are you just like Diane Abbott, and make sweeping statements without any substance to it?
You will never get the infrastructure without the people to use it. Their are plenty of jobs , just walk around the agencies in Bradford the only reason migrant workers (respect to them for their hard work ) are thriving in our town is they are willing to do the jobs we aren't . They need to build more homes because there are many thousands of people who need them...do you have a home ? Stop day dreaming and get real the jobs created by building many thousands of new homes will be a much needed boost to the area and would go some way to helping the local economy through the hard times we are all experiencing.
So jobs are created by building homes. What when the houses are built. Then you have homes to live in but the jobs from building them have gone.
do you mean in around 10 years ?
Why are Westfield building the houses?
Ha ha ha very good ....

Mike Strutter says...
6:34pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Thornton could take 700 houses better than Queensbury can take 1500 !

The new estate on Thornton rd is a joke. Check out the houses on the main rd. The pavement is about 10 feet wide yet they haven't built drives or even a lay by for the cars !

I notice the old imperial Chinese has been pulled down, houses ?

Foolroy says...
9:10pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Relax folks....I live there and it won't happen for decades....There is no money to get this project going either of public or private variety.
Take a look at the unsold houses there and the fact that land has been sold recently and planning permission submitted and ratified. There is no capital to be released so take a chill-pill!!!

Gymgeek says...
3:00pm Sat 7 Jan 12

I live in thornton and at present local facilities are not able to deal with thorntons present population, there used to be 3 primary schools to a smaller population, the primary school is of a poor standard now, it wouldnt cope with a increased population. Traffic, thornton is not built for modern day traffic, if they build more houses you can bet that tesco will come and build a unwanted super store. Doctors practice has reduced from three to one. Again it struggles with far less staff and much reduced budget therefor reducing standard of health care, which isnt the best in the world now. May be the MPs who are elected by democratic means, should ask local people what we want for our area.

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