SOCIAL housing provider Incommunities has revealed plans for a development alongside the Leeds Liverpool Canal.

A planning application to build 19 houses, six two bed properties and twelve three bed properties, on Marley Court, Crossflatts, has recently been submitted to Bradford Council.

The land in question is owned by Incommunities but has been vacant for almost a decade.

It used to be the site of three apartment buildings that were vacated and demolished in 2011.

Incommunities says the development will include three affordable homes for sale, three affordable homes for rent and thirteen houses that will be put on the open market.

Development of family homes approved for brownfield site in Undercliffe

The site of the proposed housing lies in the Leeds Liverpool Canal Conservation Area, is a short distance from the Grade II listed canal aqueduct over Morton Beck and is just 70 metres from Lingcroft Wharfe - described as a "key unlisted building."

Because of the significance of this site, the application includes a heritage statement - which details the impact of the new housing on the historic features.

It says: "It has had a major impact on the growth and industrialisation of the towns along its banks including Silsden, Bingley, and Shipley, and was influential in the development of Saltaire which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

"It was arguably the region’s most important piece of transport infrastructure and it influenced the wider development of the Bradford District and region"

"There is a clear opportunity to provide a higher quality frontage to the canal that would enhance the experience of receptors and this is a significant heritage benefit that should be seized.

"The new dwellings positively address the canal and have a sensitive contemporary identity, with a slight industrial edge.

"Similar approaches have been successfully followed elsewhere in Bingley on the banks of the canal, at 25 to 9 Micklethwaite Landings and Owens Quay, Whitley Street.

"It is believed that the proposed development will build on this success, enhance the setting of the conservation area, including Lingcroft Wharf, and provide good quality and much needed new homes.

"The brownfield development site has a negative impact upon the setting of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Conservation Area and its redevelopment provides an opportunity to create a higher quality frontage to the canal that would enhance the experience of receptors and the wider context of Lingcroft Wharf."

The development will include a footpath linking Marley Court to the canal towpath.

A decision on the application is expected in late May.