Planners are looking in detail at Bradford District housing requirements and proposed land allocations, a leading council officer has assured Ilkley residents this week.

Bradford Council assistant director of planning and transport, Julian Jackson, gave a report to Ilkley councillors, civic society members and concerned residents on Monday about progress on the council’s Local Plan.

The eventual document will form the backbone of planning policy for the entire district.

Mr Jackson also told the meeting of Ilkley Parish Council that Ilkley’s Neighbourhood Area designation application is to go before Bradford Council’s Executive on Tuesday. It is recommended for approval. The designation could lead to a greater local say in planning decisions.

Mr Jackson set out the timetable for the progress of Bradford Council’s Local Plan, formerly known as the Local Development Framework (LDF).

He said 12,000 representations had been received about the further engagement draft of the plan’s central core strategy. This document suggested as many as 3,100 new houses should be built in Ilkley, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Menston and Addingham by 2028, to meet a 45,000-home requirement for the district.

The new core strategy document is expected to go to the executive and full council shortly, and a period will be set for formal representations to this.

It is expected to go before an independent examiner next autumn Mr Jackson said officers were looking at housing requirements, acknowledging the region’s Regional Spatial Strategy is moving towards revocation. Officers are working on an infrastructure delivery plan, taking into account the demands on transport links and local education, a growth strategy and flooding risk assessments.

And new versions of the controversial housing land allocation documents, identifying sites for possible new houses, are also being updated.

Mr Jackson said: “We will look at additional new sites put to the council, and also smaller sites, such as smaller brownfield areas that may be able to make a valuable brownfield contribution.”

Parish councillor, Paul Kitching, agreed to put various detailed questions on the plan to Mr Jackson in writing, working with represen-tatives of other organisations.