Campaigners are preparing for the next round of the fight against massive housing development at Swine Lane, Riddlesden.

Taywood Homes has submitted new plans to Bradford council. Earlier ones were thrown out following an appeal to Environment Secretary John Prescott.

The new plans include a residential development, a pub and associated infrastructure on open fields by the Leeds-Liverpool canal.

The plans follow hot on the heels of an announcement last week that a new £1.5 million pub could be built on the old Scandinavia Nursery site at nearby Sandbeds.

The new Taywood scheme would involve the widening and realignment of Swine Lane with traffic management measures. Taywood also says it will provide:

the retention of the former Morton Banks hospital grounds as amenity woodland

50 dwellings in shared equity scheme for affordable housing

a footpath on the highway boundary between Carr Bank and East Morton

traffic management measures between Bradford Road and Swine Lane

a footpath to the south of Swine Lane bridge on the east and west sides

improved access and visibility to Aireview Cottages

a footpath to the west side of Swine Lane and to the north of the canal bridge.

Penny Ward, secretary of the Aire Valley Conservation Society, says a renewed campaign of action will be launched. She told us: "The Riddlesden Action Group will once again come into its own and there is going to be a bigger volume of objection than in the past."

Resident Mags Richards, of Sandbeds, says she is concerned about the air pollution that additional vehicles will bring to both developments. "Community spirit will also disappear as Riddlesden, Sandbeds and Crossflatts merge into one," she says. "The green belt is also needed for our recreation and diversity of wildlife."

In December 1996 Bradford council turned down a scheme by Taywood Homes for building houses on 50 acres because the plan did not match its traffic and roads guidelines. Taywood then submitted a smaller plan and then appealed against Bradford council's failure to decide within time limits an application for 30 acres of canal-side land. A public enquiry was held into the issue.

But again, in November last year, the plans were thrown out after Environment Secretary John Prescott dismissed the appeal.

Taywood said it would cost millions of pounds and years to compulsorily purchase the land needed for road improvements.

Inspector Jeffrey Parkinson said at the time that the land was suitable for building but its future hinged on access and the Taywood plans did not meet government guidance on pedestrian safety measures.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.