Plan for 116 homes to be built on former quarry

The site is currently covered in grass and trees and home to wildlife including foxes and birds of prey

Plans for 116 homes to be built on a former quarry and brickworks site in Bradford have been submitted to the council.

It is the second time a developer has asked for permission to build housing on the land next to Wilson Road in Wyke. A previous application was rejected over concerns about the impact on biodiversity.

More than 60 objections have been lodged with the council over the new plans.

However, developer Gleeson Developments Ltd said the site had been empty since the early 2000s and building on it would reduce the number of homes that need to be built on green belt land.

The 3.25-hectare site, near Wyke Community Sports Village, was once used for shale quarrying and as a brickworks.

If approved, the new plans would see housing built on much of the land, but with a section left as a public open space with grassland and public paths.

Linda Neal fears the effect the development will have on the area's wildlife

Linda Neal, 54, lives nearby on Wilson Road and said she was upset by the proposals.

"We moved down here because it's a quiet place to live," she said.

"It's a busy road anyway, because there's only one entrance at the top, the bottom bit is blocked off.

"You need to consider the people who have lived around here for a substantial amount of time and the impact it will have."

Ms Neal, a resource plan analyst, said the site was full of wildlife including foxes, deer and birds of prey such as kestrels.

She said: "Potentially we're looking at selling because it will no longer be the quiet haven that we purchased."

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the planning application said the site was suitable for housing and described it as "vacant land that has held no purpose since the former clay workings closed in the early 2000s".

It said that allowing homes to be built on the site would "help minimise the need to release land from the Green Belt".

"This approach is particularly important given that around 65 per cent of the Bradford District is currently designated as Green Belt," it said.

The site overlooks an area that includes some of Bradford's biggest employers, including Mailway Packaging Solutions, Schenker Ltd, BASF, and other businesses.

The site off Wilson Road was the H Birkby and Son brickworks until 1982

The application said the area of open public space that would be retained if the scheme went ahead would include "grassed footpaths" and a "trail walk through the existing grassed area of the site".

"This will provide a more formal area of open space for future occupants of the proposed development and wider area, which is a substantial benefit in comparison to the existing inaccessible informal open green space," the document said.

A decision on the application is expected in the New Year.

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