The present plan is for 140 homes at Brown Bank but Town Council says Persimmon 'intends to build 290' by 2030

Strongly objecting to plans by Persimmon, the UK's biggest house-builder, to put 140 homes on the fields between Brown Bank Lane (pictured above) and Hawber Cote Lane, Silsden Town Council points out that a transport assessment shows the company (pre-tax profit £966.8 million last year) "intends to build 290 by 2030."

Persimmon is asking Bradford council for permission to build 140 houses on the land edged in red on the map below. The company also controls the much larger area of adjoining farmland edged in blue. Silsden council refers to a "scoping study," one of seven transport assessments by Persimmon's experts, which indicates that those 140 homes would be completed by 2026 with a further 150 homes being built in the following four years on the larger, blue-edged area, some of which is pictured above (looking towards Brown Bank Lane).

The current scheme for 140 homes has caused immense controversy. At the last count, 621 people had had their say on Bradford council's online planning portal, where Persimmon's plans and supporting documents, plus other studies and criticisms, can be viewed. Opposition to the destruction of the tranquil area's hedges, trees, flora and fauna and footpaths, has been spearheaded by Silsden's Campaign for the Countryside, whose co-founder Caroline Whitaker, won an historic victory in the Bradford council elections on May 5th (see my following post).