It is vital that Local Government Minister Eric Pickles stands by his original decision to reject plans for more than 400 homes at a greenfield site in Bingley, despite the High Court ruling that he must look at the development again.

The planned development at Sty Lane, Micklethwaite, is a prime example of the wrong type of housing in the wrong place, and it is exactly the sort of scheme the Telegraph & Argus has campaigned against through our Save Our Green Spaces campaign.

This particular plan was rejected by a Govern-ment Inspector earlier this year, but sadly the developers, Bellway and Redrow, have now won an appeal to force the site to be looked at again.

No one is denying that there is a need for housing to meet the growing population in the Bradford district, but it is in the urban areas, and particularly in the city itself, that we are seeing the majority of that growth.

As Shipley MP Philip Davies points out in an article in today’s T&A, the urge to build on greenfield sites in the Aire Valley is a senseless answer to the growing number of people.

That ties in with the T&A’s long running campaign to use the huge amount of derelict brownfield sites like factories, mills, schools, pubs and other buildings for housing.

It not only preserves our precious green spaces, it will also bring these decaying urban eyesores back into use in our towns and cities.

The increased pressure on settlements in more rural out of town areas will only increase the growing strain on infrastructure such as roads and schools.

Bradford Council must look very closely at all future planned housing developments – and the Government must also do its bit, starting with the secretary of state sticking to his guns and rejecting the Sty Lane development once again.