A total of 150 new homes could be built in Harden, near Bingley, in the next 17 years to meet Bradford Council’s predicted housing demand.

That is despite the Council’s own study stating that there “is no significant short term potential” for sites to be developed.

A consultation is under way on the draft Local Development Framework (LDF), a blueprint to show where 45,000 homes may be built across the district by 2028.

A survey known as the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA) has been carried out, which identifies only three sites where up to 78 homes could be built.

They could potentially be developed, but not within the next seven years, according to the SHLAA report.

In the meantime, only small areas of “infill” such as the former Granic petrol station land or the gardens of homes could be used to build houses.

The report reads: “There is no significant short term potential in Harden other than from small infill opportunities.”

Only greenfield or green belt sites have been identified ripe for development within the next 17 years.

They include an area in Harden Road – at the centre of the village – designated under the Council’s current planning policies as “village green space”, where 20 homes could be built.

An area of privately-owned farm land north of the Harden Road site could also accommodate 29 homes, the report states.

Land off South Walk, which is protected under the Council’s current planning policies, could also be developed to provide another 29 houses within the next 12 years.

The largest potential development would be on farmland in Long Lane, a site on green belt land, where planners have estimated 50 homes could be built.

Another site is in Wilsden Road where Chelston House stands, which could provide 17 houses.

It was included in Bradford Council’s previous draft planning policies as housing land but was rejected as a development site by a Government inspector following a public inquiry.

Areas of green belt land in Ryecroft Road and next to Midgham Cliffe End Quarry, in Hill Lane End and in Harden Road, opposite the village cricket ground, are not suitable for development, according to planners.

Bradford Councillor Simon Cooke, whose Bingley Rural ward includes Harden, said development on any of the sites included in the survey would prove controversial and would be likely to spoil the rural feel of the village, Coun Cooke (Con), said: “There is an open aspect right in the heart of the village, which gives it its character.

“The other difficulty with Harden is that in one direction, there is the St Ives estate, which is not only green belt and owned by Bradford Council but is a huge country park, so it cannot be built on.

“If you build in any other direction, you are going to close the gap between Harden and Wilsden or build on large tracts of green belt land.

“You have to think about the effect this will have on the feel of the village centre and the surrounding area."

Coun Cooke said the Council had to decide whether to build huge “urban extensions” of hundreds of homes or build in the green belt, a move which may prove controversial for many of the district’s rural residents.

He said: “If you are going to do the latter, it has to be done in conversation with local people. Regardless of the numbers of houses needed, the Council cannot simply impose huge numbers of houses in places like Harden.”