RESIDENTS of Haworth, Stanbury and Cross Roads will get to have their say on a plan that could shape the future of the villages.

For a number of years Haworth, Cross Roads & Stanbury Parish Council has been working on a neighbourhood plan that, once fully adopted, will set out where future development should, and should not, take place.

At a meeting of Bradford Council's Executive last week, Council bosses backed the plan, meaning it will now go to a referendum before it is fully adopted.

Neighbourhood Plans can designation of land for uses such as housing, employment or community uses. They can be crucial in the planning process, and determining what developments are suitable for the area.

The plan has been prepared and developed between 2014 and 2019.

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At the meeting, which was held online, Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, Executive for Regeneration, Planning and Transport said: "This draft plan represents a lot of work from the parish council and I congratulate them for getting this far."

John Huxley, who was instrumental in setting up the plan, said: "This has been a long time in gestation, mainly because it is for three villages and three different communities.

"All three villages have different ambitions and different hopes."

Councillor Rebecca Poulsen (Cons, Worth Valley) said: "Mr Huxley has been integral to this plan from the very beginning. It has been a long road to get to this stage.

"The three villages each have their own character, heritage and identity and it is important they were looked at separately."

The Executive enthusiastically supported the plans, and members heard that the most likely date for that referendum would be May 2021 - to coincide with next year's local elections.

However, that would depend on whether Covid 19 restrictions, which cancelled this year's election, are lifted by then.