'Once in a lifetime' opportunity for Idle

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 10th Nov 2004

Idle Councillors campaign on Watmoughs site

Councillor Jeanette Sunderland as Chair of the Idle Village Partnership has written to the Council asking for their help to write local planning guidance for the ' once in a lifetime' opportunity for development on the Watmoughs site.

She said,

" One of the ideas that has come out of the Partnership discussions is the development of planning guidance to be debated locally which could be used by whoever comes forward to develop the former Watmoughs Printers site.

A guidance note could for example give details about how the development should fit in with the existing conservation area, how it should contribute to improving pedestrian and traffic flows and how the green spaces can be improved.

We would also expect the guidance to impact on other locally planning policies for example the need to restrict the number of hot-food outlets in the village and control over the use of vacant spaces over shops.

The negative impact of both of these policies on the life of many elderly residents has been the cause of much concern.

This is a "once-in-lifetime opportunity" to really make a difference to Idle Village. We would like the guidance to be subjected to formal consultation with people who live locally and should be approved by the Bradford North Area Panel which is chaired by Councillor David Ward. "