THE Local Plan, once introduced, will act as a blueprint for developers, guiding where new homes and industry should go.

It includes the construction of 42,100 new homes by 2030.

While half of the homes would be earmarked for previously-developed land, the plan would also see the controversial release of currently-protected green belt land to accommodate more than a quarter of the homes – around 11,000 – as well as some new business developments.

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The core strategy is the key document which underpins the Local Plan. It sets out the broad aims of the plan, as well as the number of homes earmarked for different areas.

But crucially it does not allocate specific sites, as this is a process that will happen next.

Last year, Government planning inspector Stephen Pratt examined the plans during a lengthy public inquiry.

He found that the strategy could be legally adopted, as long as various modifications were made.

Mr Pratt said at the hearings, many people had raised concerns about the loss of green belt land, particularly in north-east and south-west Bradford, the Tong Valley and Wharfedale.

He said Bradford Council had demonstrated that some of the green belt would have to be built on, saying: “Not all the required development can be accommodated on brownfield sites, due to issues of suitability, availability, viability and deliverability, and some development will have to take place on greenfield sites, including green belt land, in order to fully meet the overall housing requirement figure.”

But he said the precise location of green belt land to be built on would be decided at a later stage.

Mr Pratt also put forward tweaks to the number of homes planned for specific areas.

As it stands now, the core strategy earmarks most of the homes – 27,750 – and 100 hectares of employment land for the city of Bradford. This includes:

  • 3,500 new homes on mainly brownfield land in the city centre
  • 6,000 new homes in south-east Bradford, including a major urban extension of Holme Wood into the green belt
  • 4,400 new homes for north-east Bradford
  • 4,500 new homes for north-west Bradford and 5,500 new homes for south-west Bradford, including use of green belt land and the regeneration of Buttershaw.

In Airedale, there would be 8,450 new homes and at least 30 hectares of new employment land. This would include 4,500 homes in Keighley and 1,400 in Bingley.

In Wharfedale, there would be 2,500 new homes, including 1,000 in Ilkley – mostly on the green belt – 700 homes at Burley-in-Wharfedale and 600 at Menston. And in the south Pennine towns and villages, such as Queensbury, Thornton and Haworth, there would be a total of 3,400 new homes.

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