City council revises planned new homes down from 2,476 per year to 1,703
Most parts of Bradford district will see a reduction in housing targets under the council’s preferred options for the review of its Core Strategy.
Bradford Council has published its preferences, which includes the number of new homes needed for the people of Bradford district per year being cut from 2,476 to 1703.
The council has also launched the next step in its consultation allowing people to have their say on the core strategy document.
The Core Strategy forms part of the Local Plan for the whole of Bradford district. It sets out the council’s strategic housing, employment, transport, retail, leisure and environmental policy requirements. It also lays out the policy framework for the broad location, scale and distribution of sites for mainly housing and employment developments.
A Bradford Council spokesman explained: “All areas across the district will see a reduction in the housing targets with the exception of the city centre which sees an increase.
“Over 70% of the new houses that are built over the next 17 years will be in the Bradford city area, 18% within Airedale, 5.6% within the South Pennine towns and villages and 5.4% within Wharfedale.
“Over 81% of all new housing development will be within brownfield and non-greenbelt locations and proposals will see a reduction by half in the amount of greenbelt land that could be released for development and the majority of these will be within the Bradford city area.”
The strategy document is designed to underline the council’s commitment to aligning infrastructure and growth areas across the district through transport and development projects including the Shipley and Canal Road Corridor works.
The spokesman added: “The council has ambitious plans to deliver enhanced public transport, including using trams to link the two city centre railway stations as well as other areas of the district.
“An extensive focus upon wider urban regeneration and neighbourhood renewal is also laid out in the Core Strategy to include inner city areas of Manningham and Little Horton, Ravenscliffe, Thorpe Edge, Barkerend, Bradford Moor, Thornbury, Laisterdyke, Bierley, Holme Wood, Buttershaw, Woodside, Allerton and Keighley.
“There are plans to enhance the green infrastructure in the district ensuring communities are protected from flood risk through investment in infrastructure including sustainable drainage systems and tree planting.
“Bradford Council’s Core Strategy will continue to support a significant growth in jobs at 1,600 per year over 17 years. This is in line with the council’s Local Economic Growth Strategy.
“Initiatives such as the new Business Development Zones offer opportunities offer increases for both the type of business uses and the number of employees at these sites.
“The Core Strategy includes policies to support local skills, training and education as part of new development projects.
“A new Homes and Neighbourhood Design Guide has been developed in support of the strategy, which has a clear focus on high quality design and healthy places. It includes enhanced accessibility and wheelchair housing standards, minimum space standards and support for the integration of innovative waste collection. This is subject to a separate public consultation.
“The Core Strategy encourages and supports developments that meet the needs of the district’s population including meeting older people’s housing needs, self and custom building and specialist housing.
“The strategy lays out requirements for developers to build affordable housing on all major developments of 10 or more homes or sites of over half a hectare, as well as the need for timely infrastructure planning and a phased approach to house building to ensure the right infrastructure is delivered at the right time.”
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Regeneration, Planning and transport, said: “We have strong ambitions for Bradford district in the coming years and want to see quality homes built where people need them and significant economic growth to provide the jobs for the future.
“We’ve always said that we have to operate within the national planning policy framework and the revised Core Strategy is in line with the latest methodology the government have put forward.
“However, it also gave us the chance to update some of the policies in the strategy and go further in areas like air quality with greater expectations around walking and cycling and green infrastructure that manages flood risk through investment in things like tree planting.”
Information about Bradford Council’s Core Strategy is on the council’s website: www.bradford.gov.uk (search for Core Strategy Partial Review).
The documents are available during opening hours at the following libraries – City, Bradford Local Studies, Bingley, Ilkley, Keighley and Shipley. They are also available at Britannia House in Bradford and Keighley Town Hall.
As part of the consultation, there will be a series of public drop-in sessions which will take place at Victoria Hall in Saltaire Wednesday 7 August 3.30pm to 7.30pm, The Clarke Foley Centre in Ilkley Wednesday 14 August 3.30pm to 7.30pm, Central Hall Keighley Wednesday 21 August 3.30pm to 7.30pm and in The Broadway shopping centre Wednesday 28 August 11am to 2pm.
