NUMBERS of new homes built across Keighley are set to be slashed.

Bradford Council’s decision-making executive has agreed a move which could see massively-reduced housing targets.

The 2,476-homes-a-year figure for the district is poised to be chopped to 1,663.

Keighley MP John Grogan has welcomed the ruling, which he says will greatly ease pressure on greenfield sites.

But campaign group BANDAG claims "the damage has already been done", with developments approved based on unreliable information.

It is calling for a review and any such approvals to be overturned.

And one councillor has voiced fears that developers may try to make the most of the period before the new reduced target figure is adopted to attempt to secure housing schemes in more-rural areas of the district.

The executive this week agreed to review the council’s local development plans in the wake of major changes to Government policy.

It means that large areas of the district’s green land, which were likely to be allocated for housing, may now be spared.

Mr Grogan said: “There is no more sensitive an issue in Keighley and the surrounding towns and villages than building on the green belt.

“I am delighted that Bradford Council has decided to revise its housing figure.

“I think this could result in a cut of around a quarter in the target, which should certainly reduce the pressure on building on our precious green spaces.”

BANDAG says that over time, consultants have come up with "radically different" assessments relating to grounds for approving development on greenfield sites.

A spokesman said: "Reports failed in many ways to recognise such factors as the number of empty homes in Bradford – about one in 25 houses in the district is unoccupied – and included unreliable factors such as large projected numbers of young people and students moving into the district.

"We would like to see all the proposed development of greenfield sites reviewed and decisions overturned if they were approved based on such unreliable reports. The land should then be re-designated greenfield status!"

Top district councillors have described the Government policy changes as “not helpful” after much of the work on the local plan had already been done.

The Local Development Scheme sets out the content and timetable for the preparation of Bradford’s Local Plan, which will decide where housing, jobs, infrastructure, leisure facilities and schools are built from now until 2030.

However, the council says changes to the Government’s National Planning Policy Framework mean the estimated number of houses needed each year in the district will plummet.

Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, portfolio holder for regeneration, planning and transport, told the executive meeting: “We made a lot of progress in the past year and it is worth remembering the Government had approved our core strategy.

“We have already completed two area action plans which are important because they identify sites of brownfield land for housing.

“With the changes, the Government has basically moved the goalposts while we are half way through the match. We need to do this review so we can finish the match.”

The executive has agreed a partial review of its current core strategy that will take place at the same time as the council considers its housing allocations.

They will be subject to a public consultation before both will be submitted to Government for examination in 2020.

Craven ward Independent councillor Adrian Naylor is concerned about what could happen in the interim period.

“The council has been overly ambitious in the targets it originally set,” he said.

“The worry is that the new plan won’t be signed off until 2020 and between now and then you will get developers coming in and any application for housing will have to be judged by the existing, out-of-date core strategy.

“You could have a rush to develop in greenfield areas before the stable door is firmly closed.

“They need to make the amendments quickly.”