Final pleas have been made by District leaders calling on Bradford Council to extend the Local Plan consultation process which is proposing to build thousands of new houses on Greenbelt land.
The pleas have been made by Robbie Moore MP and the Leader of the Conservative Group on Bradford Council, Cllr Rebecca Poulsen. The deadline for submissions is 24 March 2021 however local leaders are calling for the process to be extended. Controversially Bradford Council has made the consultation process wholly online. This makes the consultation process unfair as it excludes a number of residents who may not have online access, or the ability to use online facilities. It also means that Bradford Council is not holding physical events to promote comments from residents who by and large are against Greenbelt development.
Robbie Moore and Cllr Poulsen have called on Bradford Council to postpone the consultation period to allow for people to request paper copies of the documents, respond in writing and to allow for physical events to go ahead. A motion was put before Bradford’s full council meeting to extend the consultation. The motion was voted down by the incumbent ruling Labour administration.
Commenting Robbie said: “It is incredibly important that as many people as possible have their say over this local plan. Bradford Council is in the process of setting their housing strategy for the next 15 years, and their proposals include destroying our precious green belt, which I cannot support. The government has given the local authority until 2023 to bring their plans together so I cannot understand why the Labour run administration won’t give residents a little longer to have their say - other local authorities have. I am still getting contacted by many residents who are telling me they don’t know about the consultation, and therefore to me, this whole consultation just seems to be a closed shop process.
“Our plea to Bradford Council is to extend the consultation, as the current time limited online consultation just seems like a sham. It is frustrating that Labour councillors have ignored this and voted this week just to press ahead regardless.”
Cllr Rebecca Poulsen, Leader of the Conservative Group, said: “As the Local Plan consultation is being held during a period of Covid Lockdown, online only, many people are not aware of it and if they do not have IT access they are not able to engage with the consultation. This is not acceptable over a decision that will impact communities over the next 18 years. In May and June community buildings and libraries will reopen which will give the council an opportunity to hold face to face sessions to explain the plan to residents and to get their feedback.
“It is extremely disappointing that the Labour Councillors are not wanting to listen to all residents and are doing the minimum to engage. Our motion tonight has cross party support but was rejected by the controlling Labour group. This is very disappointing particularly to residents who are not being listened to.”
Robbie has created a Greenbelt Hub on his website which details all of the Greenbelt sites across the Keighley and Ilkley constituency which are earmarked for development: https://www.robbiemoore.org.uk/greenbelt.
The consultation closes on 24 March 2021 and responses can be submitted here: https://bradford.oc2.uk/document/20.
