Bid to be unveiled for 120 homes on Haworth site (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bid to be unveiled for 120 homes on Haworth site

7:00am Friday 21st September 2012 in News By Miran Rahman

A Bradford businessman is set to reveal plans to build 120 homes on greenfield land in Haworth .

Pervez Abbas said that if this first phase for the land west of Weavers Hill is a success, he will apply for a second phase of another 200 houses.

The businessman, who owns Barkers newsagents in Sunbridge Road, Bradford, has yet to submit a planning application but opposition is already growing from residents and local politicians.

He is due to submit a planning application for houses on part of the land he owns within the next four weeks.

Mr Abbas said: “The new development will include affordable homes and a community contribution of £500,000 to be spent locally. We’ve had a reputable architects firm in Huddersfield drawing up the plans, so we’re ready to submit them.”

In 2008 Mr Abbas was behind a plan for a 65-bed hotel and apartments on the same site.

The application met stern opposition from residents and the parish council, and Bradford planning officers recommended refusal.

He withdrew the plans at a planning panel meeting, but pledged to make a fresh bid for permission.

Mr Abbas said the latest proposals would not feature a hotel following an outcry in 2008 from Haworth bed and breakfast owners worried about the impact on their businesses.

However, he said Haworth has been identified as being in need of 600 new houses to home the growing population of Bradford district.

News of the intended application is already causing concern.

Councillor John Huxley, chairman of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury parish council, said: “We would find this very difficult to swallow. 320 houses up there would have a material effect on the whole village.

“This is protected village space, and we’d need to take the views of residents into consideration. Anything that has a major impact on the appearance of the village would have an effect on our tourist industry.

“We have to wait and see how this fits in with the Strategic Housing Land Availability Assessment and with Bradford’s planning policy.”

Bradford Councillor, Glen Miller, said the field should be left for animals to graze, rather than be covered in houses.

Coun Miller (Con, Worth Valley) said: “My view is as with the previous application – I will oppose it.

“This land is a village green space, and I feel that developing it is totally out of character with what is advised.”