Leaflets urging people to oppose plans to build hundreds of homes on green-field sites dropped through letter boxes at the weekend.

Worth Valley Tory councillor Kris Hopkins and helpers went out armed with 1,500 leaflets which Oakworth residents are being called on to sign.

The Bradford council plan pinpoints five fields between Occupation Lane and Bran-shaw Golf Club in the village. Council bosses have earmarked the land as suitable for 144 homes in their Unitary Development Plan, the land-use blueprint they follow when deciding on development.

Another 11 fields have also been identified within the council's recently drawn up Vacant Land Survey. That identifies land which has potential for development of some kind.

Cllr Hopkins fears if the vacant land is used for housing, Oakworth could be engulfed with up to 1,000 new homes. "If local people don't do something to stop it, it will happen," he says. "The Vacant Land Survey land is up for grabs.

"We need to demonstrate loud and clear that the people of Oakworth don't want any further housing development on green fields.

"The place will turn into a suburb of Bradford. The village doesn't have the infrastructure to cope."

Labour councillor John Cope, chairman of the council's Keighley planning sub-committee, says the land identified in the vacant land survey has not been designated for anything specific. He says the land earmarked for housing in the Unitary Development Plan would still need to go through the planning process, to make sure any proposals meet with the council's approval. "Whenever there are good reasons to oppose green-field developments, I have done so and will do so," he pledges.

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