SOCIAL housing provider Incommunities has revealed plans for a development alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Crossflatts.

A planning application to build 19 houses, six two-bed properties and 12 three-bed properties, at Marley Court, has been submitted to Bradford Council.

The area of land earmarked for the scheme is owned by Incommunities, but has been vacant for almost a decade.

It used to be the site of three apartment buildings, which were vacated and demolished in 2011.

Incommunities says the development will include three affordable homes for sale, three affordable homes for rent and 13 houses that will be put on the open market.

The site of the proposed housing lies in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Conservation Area, is a short distance from the Grade II listed canal aqueduct over Morton Beck and is just 70 metres from Lingcroft Wharfe – described as a “key unlisted building”.

Because of the significance of the site, the planning application includes a heritage statement.

It details the potential impact of the proposed new housing on the historic features.

The report says: “The canal has had a major impact on the growth and industrialisation of the towns along its banks including Silsden, Bingley, and Shipley, and was influential in the development of Saltaire which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

“It was arguably the region’s most important piece of transport infrastructure and it influenced the wider development of the Bradford district and region.

“There is a clear opportunity to provide a higher quality frontage to the canal that would enhance the experience of receptors and this is a significant heritage benefit that should be seized.

“The new dwellings positively address the canal and have a sensitive contemporary identity, with a slight industrial edge.

“Similar approaches have been successfully followed elsewhere in Bingley on the banks of the canal, at 25 to 9 Micklethwaite Landings and Owens Quay, Whitley Street. It is believed that the proposed development will build on this success, enhance the setting of the conservation area and provide good-quality and much-needed new homes.

“The brownfield development site has a negative impact upon the setting of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal Conservation Area and its redevelopment provides an opportunity to create a higher quality frontage that would enhance the experience of receptors and the wider context of Lingcroft Wharf.” The development would include a footpath linking Marley Court to the towpath.

Incommunities, one of the UK’s largest social housing providers, formed in 2003 after a stock transfer from Bradford Council.