BRADFORD Council has performed a surprise U turn on plans to sell off a Silsden field to property developers.

Much of the playing field off Elliott Street will now be kept “for the benefit of the local community” – with just a section of the land sold for housing.

The change in policy will be approved at a meeting of the Council’s Executive on Tuesday, and comes as officers acknowledge there is a “deficit of outdoor space” in the town.

Plans to sell the field date back to 2016, when Bradford Council made the decision to close two primary schools, Hothfield and Aire View, and replace them with a larger, single primary school.

The playing field, near the Hive community centre, was used by these schools, and the Council argued it would be surplus to requirements once the schools shut.

With the new school, which has its own play facilities, having opened in January, the prospect of the field’s sale inched ever closer.

In March a petition signed by 1,649 people – urging the Council to scrap the sale was heard at a meeting of the Council.

Petitioners said it was a vital facility in a town with limited public outdoor spaces.

At the time Council bosses argued that the sale of the pitch had been key to the budget of the new school.

But a report to the Council’s Executive says that the position has changed in the past six months.

It says that a recent audit of public open space in Silsden found that there was enough in the town. But the report adds: “Tt should be noted that the amount of outdoor sports open space detailed in the audit is ‘skewed’ by the inclusion of the large golf course site to the South East.

“When this is taken into account, and excluded from the calculation, there is a deficit of outdoor sports space within Silsden.”

The report also reveals that both the former school sites were placed on the market, and offers for the two building “may exceed” the predicted value used in the 2016 budgeting plans that seemingly sealed the field’s fate.

It adds: “Although there is still significant housing demand to be met in Silsden, it is acknowledged that there is a balance required between the demand for additional housing and the retention of Public Open Space, along with the fact that development of the entire site for housing would make a small contribution towards meeting overall housing need for Silsden.

“It is proposed that a more modest residential development is progressed, thus allowing the much of the Elliott St pitch to be retained as Public Open Space for the benefit of the local community.”

The Executive are expected to sign off on the altered plans at Tuesday’s meeting.