Any plans to build homes on the district’s greenbelt should concern us all, not just those in the immediate vicinity of any prospective development.

The truth of the matter is that there is no shortage of brownfield sites which could be brought back into use without any controversy whatsoever – it is just that doing so is more difficult and costly for developers.

So given the choice, anyone planning new homes would plump for a greenbelt site.

If they are allowed to do so, we all lose out as a precious resource disappears, never to return.

Very often these sites are also next to popular housing areas whose roads and other facilities, such as schools, are already at or close to capacity, as is the case at the site off Sty Lane, near Micklethwaite, which was taken out of the greenbelt by Government inspectors but which is clearly an attractive greenfield site which deserves to be retained.

Adding more houses in such areas only puts the local infrastructure under even greater strain.

But as long as the Government continues to stick to its questionable target of 54,000 new homes in Bradford and district by 2026 – our green fields will continue to be under threat.

The case for such a large number of homes has yet to be proven to everyone’s satisfaction and, in any event, surely the needs of the district should not be determined by people hundreds of miles away with little or no understanding of the area.