A multi-million pound hi-tech business park will create science and technology jobs in the Aire Valley, regeneration chiefs said.

But residents near the site in Buck Lane, Baildon, claim it will destroy wildlife, cause traffic chaos and be a major blight on the open countryside.

Proposals have been put forward to turn the 14-acre area, one of the largest development sites in the district, into the technology-based park.

It will include offices and flats with a riverside walk becoming an extension to the Denso Marston nature reserve.

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward provided the money to buy the site for Bradford Council to develop.

Councillor David Green, executive member for regeneration and the economy, said: “It will provide a high quality science and technology-based business park aimed at stimulating new enterprise activity.”

If it goes ahead, the scheme may come as a welcome boost for an area of the district which has been hard hit by job losses, he said.

More than 300 jobs were axed last year following redundancies at lamp factory Sylvania and radiator manufacturer Denso Marston.

Coun Green said there had been an application in 2005 by electronics firm Filtronic to build a “modern urban village”.

But the application was withdrawn after complaints from residents.

Samantha Yates, who lives with husband Mark in Otley Road, said the site had become a haven for wildlife including roe deer and otters, in the five years since Filtronic dropped plans to build on the site. “There are a lot of brown field sites which would be more preferable,” she said.

However, David Rae, who runs a garage in Otley Road, said he was not against building on the land, adding: “If they are going to put low buildings on there, that would be OK but it all depends how big the development is going to be.”

People will have a chance to comment on the scheme at an exhibition at St James’s Church, Otley Road, Baildon, on Tuesday, July 6, from 2pm to 4pm.

The exhibition will also be open on Wednesday, July 7, from 2pm to 4pm and from 6.30pm to 8pm and on Thursday, July 8, from 2pm to 4pm.