A public inquiry has been demanded into the way a planning document outlining Bradford's ten year development policy has been drawn up.

The deputy leader of Bradford Council's Liberal Democrat group, Councillor David Ward, said the planning inspector who reviewed the Unitary Development Plan (UDP) was wrong to remove land from the green belt without public debate.

Villagers in Heaton are among those now campaigning to protect land from housing. Other areas affected include parts of Idle, Wrose and Thornbury.

Coun Ward says the Council failed to carry out either a green belt study or an urban capacity study and this allowed the inspector to make the changes.

He said: "To not allow people across Bradford North and the district as a whole to have their say on matters of such importance causes a breakdown of trust between the Council and the local people.

"To allow such modifications without allowing a public debate renders the replacement unitary development plan as being fundamentally flawed. These significant changes should be the subject of a full public inquiry."

However a Bradford Council planning spokesman said he was confident the authority had acted legally throughout.

He added: "The Council did not accept the inspector's recommendations on the need for an urban capacity study and green belt review because these exercises would have caused an unacceptable delay in adopting the plan.

"However, the issues identified by the inspector will be addressed through work on the new planning system which is set to replace the UDP over the next three years. This approach has been endorsed by the secretary of state."

Coun Ward said: "We are talking about a huge change to the allocation of green belt land and getting it right is better than doing it quickly.

"The Council seems to be taking an approach where it will just roll over and accept these major modifications without comment.

"There is sufficient legal precedent that, should land be removed from the green belt now, it is unlikely ever to be returned. This is a battle local people cannot afford to lose."