AN ALLIANCE of Wharfedale groups campaigning against intensive housing development claims “out-of-date” information about flood risks in the valley has been used to formulate proposed new planning rules for the Bradford District.

Wasp (Wharfedale Alliance for Sound Plans) has homed in on flood risk information used in a Local Development Framework Draft, as representative of local organisations prepare to speak at a hearing in March over the proposed Core Strategy of the Local Plan for Bradford.

Representatives of several organisations which have come together to form the alliance are expected to speak at the hearings for a planning inspector’s examination of Bradford’s Local Plan – starting March 4.

Many people from Wharfedale are scheduled to speak at the hearings, representing parish councils along the valley, as well as local civic societies, Wharfedale and Airedale Review Development (Ward), residents’ groups in Menston and Ben Rhydding, and Ilkley Design Statement Group.

Representatives of major housing developers are also expected to speak at the hearings, as the planning inspector looks in depth at the Core Strategy of the Local Plan.

The Strategy recommends the building of 1,600 new homes in Ilkley over the next 15 years.

Many local groups want to see the figure reduced and green fields and Green Belt land protected, but housing developers are expected to challenge these figures, calling for more development to be allowed.

Wasp, which based its name on the idea of testing for soundness in planning matters, has been studying flood risk data used by Bradford Council in the formulation of its plan, and says the quality of flood risk information used is under question.

Members of the alliance have been comparing the Environment Agency’s new flood risk boundaries in each community with older maps uses for the Bradford plan.

The groups have requested that the Environment Agency provides the number of properties in each community which have been added to the Risk Zones.

Peter Wilkinson, of Wasp, said: “Since the Local Development Framework Draft was published years ago, the Environment Agency has developed new models which have redefined areas at risk of flooding.”

He asks how many more properties in Wharfedale will find themselves inside flood boundaries when more areas of green space have been developed, saying: “We predict that this issue will develop over some time.”