PLANNING permission to build houses on two controversial Menston sites has expired, it has emerged.

Bradford Council has contacted Menston Parish Council to confirm the status of planning permissions for the Derry Hill and Bingley Road sites.

Stewart Currie, its senior planning officer for major development, has said planning permission for Derry Hill had expired on October 24 and Bingley Road had expired on January 3 this year.

“Given neither planning permission was implemented, the developers were not liable to meet any of the obligations, through Section 106 contributions,” he said.

The news was welcomed by Dr Steve Ellams, chairman of Menston Community Association, which tried but failed to force a Judicial Review of the granting of planning permission at both sites.

Dr Ellams also claimed the expiry of the permissions was a "tacit acknowledgement that these sites are not suitable for development”.

“Menston Action Group has, of course, led a substantial campaign to set aside these planning permissions over nearly six years, including significant legal proceedings which have gone all the way to the Supreme Court," he said.

“We feel that Bradford Council left us with no choice but to go to court. Council officers have, up until now, refused to engage in meaningful consultation with Menston residents or acknowledge clear evidence that the two sites flood and that the watercourses and combined sewers which serve the village downstream of the sites simply have no capacity to cope with the proposed developments.

“We obviously regret that matters were such that we had to go to court not least because the legal process made council officers and developers less inclined to engage with us and because the judicial review process did not allow us to address the fact that these sites are incapable of safe development.”

He added: “The expiry of the planning permissions will not mean the end of our legal case. The law in this area needs clarification and the issues involved are important for housing development across the country.

“Circumstances have now of course changed and we hope that council officers will now be prepared to acknowledge that these sites do flood and that they will see sense and take this new opportunity to consult properly with Menston residents about the appropriate development of the village.”

The two sites were earmarked for housing by Bradford Council in 2008 and planning permission was granted in 2012.

A Bradford Council planning spokesman denied the sites were at risk of flooding.

He said: “Neither the Council Drainage team, Yorkshire Water, nor the Environment Agency have found any clear evidence to suggest that the two sites flood or watercourses and combined sewers cannot cope with the proposed developments.”

Barratt Homes had planned a development on the Derry Hill site.

A spokesman for Barratt Developments Yorkshire West said: “Barratt Developments is awaiting the Supreme Court verdict on the ongoing Judicial Review Proceedings before progressing with a planning strategy for the site.”