A Government planning inspector has called for school attendance figures in Ilkley after hearing that too many pupils will be chasing too few places at schools in the town.

Philip Asquith will consider the figures next week as part of the public inquiry into Bradford's Unitary Development Plan.

Bradford Council planning officer Gerry McGuckin told the hearing at Victoria Hall, Saltaire, that he could not answer detailed questions about the number of school places in Ilkley.

Parish Councillor Kate Brown, who is secretary of the Ilkley Design Statement Group, urged the inspector to block plans to sell off the former Ilkley Middle School site for housing.

At present the Valley Drive site is being used as the Ilkley Grammar School Lower School. In September when building work on the Grammar School's Cowpast-ure Road site is completed, all the pupils will move there.

Once it becomes empty, Bradford Council wants to sell the Middle School site and half-an-acre of its playing fields for housing.

Mr McGuckin said the site would be large enough for 75 houses, including about 30 'affordable' homes.

But the inquiry heard many people in Ilkley fear the Cowpasture Road site will soon be swamped by too many pupils.

Coun Brown agreed that the Middle School site was ideal for housing but she feared it would still be needed for education.

She said: "There are a large number of families moving to Ilkley because of the education and when families move away from Ilkley they try to keep their children in school in Ilkley if they don't move to far."

But Mr McGuckin said: "We were advised by the education department that it (the Middle School site) was surplus to requirements. They did not see much further demand for a number of years."

The inspector asked Mr McGuckin to go back to education officials and get a letter outlining the figures and the predictions of pupil numbers.

He said that, once he had the figures, objectors could come back to him and ask written questions on the basis of those figures.

The inquiry will continue for the next few months and the inspector is expected to deliver his report next year.