CRUCIAL steps will be taken next week towards developing a plan to help Worth Valley villages have a say in future building developments.

A pair of open, public meetings to progress the Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Neighbourhood Development Plan will be staged in Cross Roads and Haworth.

Residents and businesses are invited to attend and give their opinions about further housing and business development in the parish.

The first meeting will be held at the Brontë Hotel, Lees Lane, Cross Roads on Tuesday June 9 starting at 7pm. The second will be staged the following day at 7pm in the Old School Rooms, Church Street, Haworth.

Bradford Council has previously indicated that Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish will have to accommodate 400 new houses over the next 20 years.

The Neighbourhood Development Plan is designed to give people in the parish a voice in where the new housing is to be placed and what it looks like.

During the last 18 months a steering group comprising parish councillors and members of the community have been working to draw up this plan.

Councillor John Huxley, chairman of Haworth, Cross Roads and Stanbury Parish Council as well as the Neighbourhood Development Plan Steering Group, said: “Finding room for 400 new houses in the parish is bound to have an effect on what it looks like and what kind of infrastructure facilities we need like public transport, schools and health services."