OXENHOPE councillors were asked whether the outcome of a reassessment of how many homes are required for Bradford District will be reflected in a long-term plan for their parish.

The query was raised by Cllr Robert Goulding during the latest full meeting of Oxenhope Parish Council yesterday evening. (Oct 10)

He said up to this point the process to draw up a Neighbourhood Development Plan (NDP) for the village had accepted the target number of future homes for Oxenhope set by Bradford Council.

Cllr Goulding said if the district council's reassessment results in a reduction of additional housing for Oxenhope, this should ideally be reflected in the final draft of the NDP.

Citing existing traffic problems in Station Road, he asked whether the document would include enough emphasis on the difficulties the village would face if it has to accommodate a large number of new homes.

Cllr Peter McManus said: "As I understand it, Bradford Council is reassessing the number of houses they'll need everywhere.

"That might have an impact on us, but our NDP won't be signing off a set number of houses for Oxenhope.

"No one knows what the housing number reassessment will bring, and we can't take it as a given that it'll reduce the number of new homes for Oxenhope. And we have no control over that in the NDP legislation."

Cllr McManus updated colleagues on the progress of the NDP, which is designed to help influence what types of new properties are developed in Oxenhope in future and where they should be sited.

The blueprint, meant to cover the village for the next 15 years, also addresses topics such as the natural environment, transport, tourism and agriculture.

A steering group composed of councillors and other local residents has been working on drawing up the plan since October 2016.

Once finalised and approved the Oxenhope NDP will be adopted by Bradford Council and will be used to help determine planning applications.

"The informal consultation ended on September 30 and our consultants are taking the informal draft of the plan forward towards a formal draft, which they should hopefully put together by the end of November," Cllr McManus said.

"As a parish council I'd like us to have a meeting where we look at that final draft.

"We hope the final version will go to a six-week formal consultation before the end of January."

At the same meeting, Oxenhope parish councillors chose the winners of a local photography competition, held to select images which will be used to illustrate the NDP.

Nearly 30 entrants submitted pictures in categories including Architecture, Landscape, Heritage, Movement & Travel, Agriculture, Village Life and Leisure & Recreation.