Menston housing plans are delayed (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Developers alter plans for schemes at Derry Hill and Bingley Road

7:30am Friday 15th July 2011 in Menston By Jonathan Redhead, Ilkley/Otley Reporter

A decision on controversial plans to build 300 homes in a village has been postponed after developers made alterations to their schemes.

Councillors were due to meet on Tuesday to decide the fate of two schemes at Derry Hill and Bingley Road in Menston.

But now the meeting of Bradford Council’s Shipley area planning panel has been called off, after Barratt Homes, which wants to build 174 homes at Derry Hill and Taylor Wimpey which aims to construct up to 124 homes at Bingley Road, made changes.

And panel chairman Coun Shabir Hussain said there would not be enough time to consult on the amendments, forcing a postponement of the meeting.

“Unfortunately, we have had to postpone the meeting because amendments to both applications have been submitted, making it necessary for further consultations to be carried out,” he said.

The Council is sending letters out to all interested parties to inform them of the postponement.

Shortly before the postponement was announced, the Council issued an agenda for the meeting, containing a report to the panel recommending that the plans should be approved despite major opposition.

Campaigners in Menston have spent months fighting the plans, and have letters of objection and even held a referendum in the village with 1,760 voters, or 98.3 per cent, against the plans.

But the report, by Julian Jackson, the council’s assistant director for planning, said both schemes were in accordance with the authority’s Replacement Unitary Development Plan (RUDP).

And it said, subject to conditions, they should both be given approval, meaning work on both sites could have started soon.

Mr Jackson’s report, which is more than 110 pages long, outlined the arguments made by opponents of the plans, including Menston Parish Council, Menston Community Association and Menston Action Group, but dismissed them.

Both applications should be granted with a raft of conditions relating to village amenities, materials, drainage and travel plans, Mr Jackson said.

He said Barratt Homes would pay £880,000 in contributions to the Council to cover recreation, education and public transport. Taylor Wimpey would pay £671,000.

• Read the full story Friday’s T&A