Bradford councils Unitary Development Plan - the district wide blueprint for future planning applications - was approved this week amidst mounting controversy.
Opposition councillors called the process "deeply flawed" and pledged continuing support to the several community Action groups who have vowed to take their fight against the Plan to the High Court
The UDP plan, which has been 6 years in preparation, designates all land throughout the district into categories ranging from protected "green belt" to "proposed housing site". A change from agricultural land to development land can see land values rocket from £2000 an acre to £150,000 or more, making some land owners millionaires overnight.
Future planning applications are then considered against these designations.
But the process of "objections" to the original plan has led to several major coups for developers over the wishes of local residents. A number of former green belt sites have been allocated to housing development, including Jenny Lane Playing Fields in Baildon, Warren Lane in Eldwick and Denholme Road in Oxenhope. The village of Silsden faces a massive development of hundreds of new houses.
The draft Plan was placed on public view in 1994, and showed the original green belt status. But most people were unaware of "objections" made by would-be developers to change the status of the sites. A year later a public inquiry dealt with an overwhelming 22,000 objections. The Council approved the Inquiry Inspectors recommendations in May this year, which was the first time that many realised that the controversial changes had been made. Thousands of local residents formed Action groups to campaign against the changes, but were told this week that they were too late.
At a stormy meeting of the councils Transportation and Planning committee on Wednesday, filmed for BBC's "Panorama", Labour chair Councillor Latif Darr said:
"We have been advised by lawyers and barristers that there are no new issues and we should accept it".