MEMBERS of the public were told to leave a planning meeting after an objector to a housing scheme refused to stop interrupting the debate.

Members of Bradford Council's Regulatory and Appeals Committee were discussing plans to build 104 homes on an area of land off Ryedale Way, Allerton at a meeting in City Hall yesterday morning.

A number of objectors to the plans attended the meeting, and while officers were discussing the application, one woman stood and began reading from a notebook saying the development was "about profit" and shouting phrases like "this is not business as usual."

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Chair of the committee Councillor David Warburton asked her to sit down, but she repeatedly refused. He then told the public that the remainder of the discussion would be held in private session, ordering everyone to leave.

After a few minutes the Committee allowed an agent for the applicant, the objectors who had registered to speak and a member of the press back into the meeting.

Almost 200 object to plan for homes on Allerton field

John Turnpenny, one of the objectors who had been registered to speak at the meeting, apologised to the committee for the woman's conduct, saying he did not know her and wasn't aware she was planning to disrupt the meeting.

Planning meetings are held in public, but are not public meetings, and at the start of meetings anyone in attendance is told that it is down to the discretion of the chair who is allowed to speak.

The application, by Skipton Properties, had first been approved in 2014, but stalled negotiations with the landowner had led to the plans being delayed by five years.

The scheme re-emerged this year, and the new plan had attracted over 200 objectors.

At yesterday's meeting, officers said Skipton Properties had informed them they were in talks with the owner of an area of land needed to access the site, and were now in a position to progress with the development.

Councillors were told that if the plans were approved Skipton Properties would have just three months to sign an agreement for the site, including an agreement over access.

If they didn't then the development was unlikely to progress.

Members heard from a number of objectors, including local ward Councillors, who raised concerns about the housing - ranging from drainage, an increase in traffic, pressure on local schools, doctors and other facilities, and the impact on wildlife in the area.

After the public had been excluded, the committee continued their discussion.

Councillor Alan Wainwright (Lab, Tong) said: "I can't see any way we can refuse this. If we did Skipton Properties would go to an appeal, and they most certainly would win that appeal.

"The problem is we don't have a big enough supply of housing land. It's a massive issue and one that developers keep pointing out to us. This gives developers grounds to go to an appeal and win."

Four members voted to approve the application and two voted against it.

The housing development will include 20 affordable homes.

Cllr Warburton had already warned the objectors about interruptions earlier in the meeting. While officers were discussing some of the objectors' concerns, some in the crowd began speaking amongst themselves, seemingly critical of what was being said.

He warned: "People are making a commotion, I have to remind them, this is not a public meeting, and other than the people who have registered to speak they are here to listen."

The incident was the second time this year that a planning meeting went into a private session after members of the public disrupted proceedings.

In February people were asked to leave an Area Planning Panel when objectors to a planned retail and residential development on Thornton Road began shouting at planning officers and accusing them of telling lies.