People can have their say about the future look of the district when Bradford Council publishes its Core Strategy which will determine land use, including where more than 42,000 new homes could be built.

The authority is in the process of preparing its Local Plan which will set out its approach to managing development and change until 2030.

According to Government figures, Bradford Council has to earmark enough land in the district for 42,100 houses by 2030 and formal representations from the public and other interested parties will be accepted for six weeks from this Monday.

The Core Strategy of the Local Plan sets the broad policies that determine future use of land for housing, employment, retail, health and well-being, education, leisure, transport, and infrastructure purposes.

Following its approval by full Council in December, this is the last opportunity for people to comment on the plan before it is sent to the Government for independent scrutiny.

Councillor Val Slater, the Council’s executive member for housing, planning and transport said: “We need a thorough and robust local plan to make sure we get the right sort of development in the right areas.

“We must anticipate not only the homes we will need in the future, but the type of industrial, commercial and social developments the district will experience in the next decades.

“If we get this right now, as we are trying our best to do, it will save a lot of problems in the next 20 years and help to protect our beautiful landscape.

“Of course we are subject to influences over which we have no control like the Government’s housing targets, and the way the economy affects housing and other investment, but we can develop a considered and practical response.

“We have to meet the needs of an increasing demand for housing as well as developing planning strategy and policies to create jobs and growth without letting developers have a free-for-all on our wonderful natural landscape.”

The Core Strategy Publication Draft and key support documents will be available for public inspection at the Council offices and at main libraries.

It does not identify individual development sites but sets out housing numbers for different areas.

Bradford city centre and the Canal Road corridor, for instance, have been earmarked for 6,500 new homes.

For more information contact the Local Plan Group on (01274) 433679 or ldf.consultation@bradford.gov.uk.

The Core Strategy draft and associated documents will be available to download from Monday at bradford.gov.uk/LDF.

Representations can be submitted via e-mail to ldf.consultation@ bradford.gov.uk or by post to Local Plan Group, City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, Second Floor, South Jacobs Well, Nelson Street, Bradford, BD1 5RW.