IT isn't a perfect solution for the village of Addingham or the hamlet of Low Mill but the transformation of the former wool scouring plant site into a housing estate will surprise no-one if it gets the go-ahead today. There will be many complaints about the noise, danger and disturbance yet again of construction work traffic impinging on the sleepy area nestling by a perfect spot on the River Wharfe.

And people will wonder whether the infrastructure of the village can cope with an extra 64 homes, with all the extra pressure on services that they will generate. In reality, there was unlikely to be any other outcome. A mix of light industrial units and homes was the Civic Society's ideal solution for the Low Mill development but Addingham is regarded as a place where people want to live, rather than work.

The pressure of land prices means that industrial units would be far more expensive to lease than those in other parts of the district. Any business person worried about expensive operating overheads would steer well clear of the otherwise attractive area. And no-one wanted to see the return of another large and inappropriate industrial enterprise belching smoke and fumes across the Wharfe valley.

If housing is to be regarded as the only practical solution, a housing development with plenty of protected open space and a large percentage of affordable homes for younger couples from the village can be seen as the least of a myriad of possible evils.

That is not to say that younger families from the village will get the new homes but at least they will be provided on site, instead of postponed to a future date and put somewhere else in the Keighley and Ilkley Parliamentary Constituency by the almost empty gesture of a commuted sum of money to Bradford Council.