Vast areas of green belt land across the district have been saved from new housing and building in a report by government inspectors into Bradford's planning blueprint.

One of the biggest winners in the district is Silsden, after the inspector recommended that it be made a lower priority area for development.

Following a nine-month public inquiry into Bradford Council's Unitary Development Plan (UDP), the proposals, which will shape the district's development for the next 15 years, was published this week .

The independent team dealt with 7,000 objections to the council's UDP. Their 700-page report will now be considered by the council and more public consultation will take place before the recommendations are adopted.

Potential development in Silsden has been drastically cut by the recommendations. The inspectors believed that Silsden was a village and not a town and did not have the infrastructure to deal with more housing.

Residents in the Aire Valley town had feared that up to 2,500 new homes would be built in the town and large areas would be used for industrial and other employment purposes.

A proposed bypass to the east of the town and a new junior school would also be removed from the UDP.

Deputy mayor Cllr Michael Elsmore (pictured) said: "It is brilliant, it is excellent news. I think at last somebody has listened to the people of Silsden. It means the character of the town won't change."

To make up for the reduction in housing in Silsden, other areas of the district have been re-allocated. They include a site at Park Lane, Parkwood, Keighley, and Shann Lane, Blackhill. But concerns have been voiced about a site at the end of the Keighley bypass, at Beechcliffe and Royd Ings, which has been included for a potential development site. The inspector has overturned a council decision to remove the areas from the plan, even though they lie within the flood plain.

But Keighley Town Council planning chairman Cllr Brian Hudson said: "We are obviously pleased with any industrial development. Keighley is starved of industrial land and we need these buildings to keep those jobs."

But he added that the site needed to be safeguarded from flooding.

Cllr Chris Greaves, chairman of Keighley Area Planning Panel, said: "That site could be an interesting one because we have the inspector telling us one thing and the environment agency saying something else, with us stuck in the middle.

"We have to take expert advice on board so when that comes along, it will be very interesting looking at technical evidence."

Areas of Oxenhope, Cross Roads and Haworth, earmarked for housing, have also been added to the green belt.

The UDP is used to determine every planning application submitted to the council.