CONTROVERSIAL plans for almost 300 homes on green fields in Allerton have been approved.

Keepmoat Homes and Hallam Land Management has permission to build 292 two, three and four-bedroom houses on 14.8 hectares of countryside to the west of Allerton Lane and the south of Cote Lane.

The proposal was agreed by Bradford Council’s regulatory and appeals committee today.

Outline plans were originally refused by the local authority in 2011 on highway safety grounds, but in December 2012 that decision was overturned after a successful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, giving the developers three years to re-submit the plans.

The current application took into account reserved matters linked to the scheme, including landscaping, layout and scale.

A condition of the approval is that residents living closest to the new homes will be consulted by developers about landscaping around their homes.

Councillor Shabir Hussain (Lab, Manningham) supported the application but sympathised with residents who live near the site.

He said: "This application has been refused twice but I can’t see how it can be refused today.

"I don’t think I would like it if I was living there, but it passes all of the requirements."

Committee chairman Councillor David Warburton added: "The developers of the scheme have complied very much on what planning laws require."

Councillor Richard Dunbar (Lab, Thornton and Allerton), who spoke at today's meeting on behalf of the residents, said a public consultation held in Allerton in October last year was "nothing more than a tick-box exercise."

He said: "This impact would increase highway safety concerns.

"It would have a detrimental impact on highways."

Agent Jonathan Dunbavin said previous objections about highways issues had been addressed.

He added: "We would happily engage with residents on the landscaping scheme, so they would be happy with it."

The council received 21 objections to the scheme.