Oakworth is “choked” with traffic and can’t cope with more development until the infrastructure is improved, a councillor has warned.

Bradford Council has identified eight sites in Oakworth, suitable for up to 354 homes to be built over the next 17 years as part of its Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment (SHLAA).

More than three quarters of the proposed new homes are earmarked for greenbelt sites. Coun Russell Brown (Worth Valley, Cons) said: “Oakworth has become choked with traffic. It is very difficult to drive out of Oakworth in the morning. The main road is congested and other roads have become rat-runs.

“More houses will just mean it becomes more congested and everything will eventually just grind to a halt.

“There are so many cars parked on the roadsides it is becoming dangerous. When people are picking their children up from school everything comes to a stop.

“People park on the pavements, which is a cause of tension. But if they don’t park on the pavements then other vehicles can’t get down the narrow roads.

“We need to make sure the infrastructure is there first before we build anything else or we will just be creating problems for ourselves.”

Bradford Council is looking to find room for 45,500 homes across the district by 2028.

Areas available for possible housing schemes have been identified in the SHLAA and the proposals are currently under consultation.

The document will eventually form part of Bradford’s Local Development Framework – a key planning document which will shape the future of house-building.

Coun Brown said Oakworth’s traffic problems were made worse by a lack of employment opportunities in the immediate area and poor public transport links, which forced village residents to commute to cities such as Leeds by car.

He said there were also problems with the village primary school, which was full.

He said: “Education is also something that seriously needs looking at before we think about building more houses. We have had lots of problems with parents who live in Oakworth not getting their children in to Oakworth School. Even though they have extended the school there are still children from the village who can’t get a place there.”

The proposed housing sites in Oakworth include Vale Mills in Mytholme Lane, where planning permission to convert the mill into 30 apartments has already been granted, and a garden belonging to a detached house in Keighley Road, which has planning permission for a further five homes.

Sloping fields off Sykes Lane and Keighley Road have been identified for a 147- home development, pasture land off Waterwheel Lane has been earmarked for 44 properties and a further 43 homes are proposed for an open and prominent site in Providence Lane.

Sites off Pasture Lane, Hill Top Road and Moorfield Drive have also been proposed for development.

Coun Brown added: “There has been a lot of development in Oakworth in recent times. When I moved in to my house in Oakworth there was greenbelt on three sides, but all that has disappeared over the last 20 years.

“It is difficult because there is a need for homes, but we need to stand back and look at these other issues before we think about building houses.

“Oakworth is a large village and we need to think how we can best support its development “I think we need to figure out what is going on with the empty houses first. We need to use those first and redevelop brownfield land before we start building on greenbelt land.”