Silsden people have been "disadvantaged" by a lack of consultation over plans to increase the town by a third, a councillor has claimed.

Coun Mike Elsmore's accusation threatened to halt a six-month public inquiry into Bradford Council's planning blueprint on its first day.

The start of the process, which is likely to cost £1 million, was disrupted as inspectors dealt with the complaint that Bradford Council had failed to consult properly on its unitary development plan (UDP), in particular its designation of land in Silsden.

In the revised plan, the council outlined proposals for 2,500 new houses, a new bypass and a junior school in Silsden. Objections to this designation are likely to be examined by the inquiry in May.

Cliff Hughes, who is heading the team of four planning inspectors, said that he was considering adjourning the proceedings following correspondence from Coun Elsmore.

The town councillor claims that Bradford did not follow its statutory obligations of consulting with town councils prior to the deposit stage of the planning process.

"Coun Elsmore said that the council should have consulted Silsden Town Council before any deposit of the plan was made and the council didn't make any such undertaking," Mr Hughes said.

Mr Hughes said that Coun Elsmore had argued that when planning officers attended a parish meeting in December 1999 they had not met their obligations as they had not consulted the town council, only the residents.

"Coun Elsmore's view is that the lack of pre-deposit consultation in Silsden means residents have been disadvantaged and that it is very difficult to get a plan changed once it has been placed on deposit," Mr Hughes explained.

Coun Elsmore told the planning inquiry that he would like to see the council withdraw the parts of the development plan that related to Silsden, and start again.

Speaking for Bradford Council, barrister Martin Carter said that the council had met its obligations.

He argued: "As far as the law is concerned the council has complied with the 1999 regulations and as to the factor of consultation there was consultation.

"Coun Elsmore says that the Silsden proposals were not consulted on until after they were prepared. That is a misunderstanding of what the revised proposal inquiry is all about."

He said that there had been extensive consultation through the press, public meetings and information leaflets produced by the council.

After hearing the arguments, Mr Hughes ruled that he could see no reason to adjourn proceedings, and said he felt that there had been sufficient time for Silsden residents to express their views.

The inquiry, which began this week, will focus on the development of the district over the next 15 years.

The critical issue appears to be the designation of the green belt, which the council has pledged to protect from development.

Instead the authority is pushing for the regeneration of brown field sites and the conversion of empty and under-used buildings.

In his opening speech, Mr Carter said:"The council does not believe it necessary to remove land from the green belt to cater for present or foreseeable future development needs."

However he added: "Land has been removed from the green belt when the particular local factors have, in the council's view, amounted to exceptional circumstances, such as to reflect errors in the drawing of boundaries or when circumstances on the ground have changed.

"There has been considerable interest on the part of objectors to try to make a case for the existence of exceptional circumstances to justify an alteration of the adopted green belt boundaries."

In particular there is a bid to have a stretch of land in Addingham adjacent to the bypass allocated for housing despite it being in the green belt.

The inquiry also heard that villages with good transport links, including Steeton with Eastburn, could be ripe for development. The council is trying to encourage more people to use public transport to commute to work.

In the next six months 6,861 objections will be considered by the team of four planning inspectors.

The council also announced on Tuesday it has reneged on an earlier statement that it had no plans to make pre-inquiry changes to the plans.

Instead they will be publishing a list of changes next week and inviting further comment, which will be scheduled into the inquiry.

The next fortnight will concentrate on strategic issues before the focus changes to the designation of individual sites, including areas of Addingham, Steeton, Eastburn and Silsden.

The inquiry, which is being held at Victoria Hall, Saltaire, follows almost two years of public consultation, revision and development and is expected to last until July.

At the end of the inquiry the inspectors will publish a report setting out its findings and recommendations. It is likely to be available early next year.