A controversial plan for a children's home was put on hold yesterday after claims that the application was "contaminated".

The application was deferred following revelations that the chairman of the panel may have been involved in helping to draw it up.

The plan for the proposed home at Carr Bank, East Morton, was due to be heard by the Keighley Area Planning Panel, at Swire Smith Hall, Keighley, yesterday.

But the meeting was postponed following a claim by Councillor Malcolm Slater (Keighley North) that the application was "tainted and flawed".

He issued a report to people at the meeting, supported by two different sets of minutes from a meeting of the children's homes steering group in August.

On one set of minutes social services director Alison O'Sullivan was asked to meet with the chairman of the area planning panel and a lead officer to discuss the planning application. But on the second copy any mention of the chairman was omitted.

Cllr Slater said: "There is a declaration of intention by the meeting to ask Mrs O'Sullivan to meet with the chairman of the planning panel.

Whether that happened or not we perhaps do not know.

"It may be that the chairman wants to comment on that but as everyone knows it is difficult to prove or not."

He believed the application should be withdrawn and no further application be made on that site. He said: "The application is contaminated. The removal of the chairman is not enough to remove that taint from the application."

The meeting was adjourned for more than half-an-hour with the public excluded while the panel sought legal advice over the claim.

When the meeting resumed, dhairman Cllr Chris Greaves said: "I am going to propose that this item be deferred until a future date in order that the report can be re-submitted together with a supplementary report citing the chairman's pre-involvement with the application."

That proposal was approved with an amendment from Cllr John Prestage to look at why there were two different copies of the minutes.

After the meeting, Cllr Slater said: "I am glad that the role of the chairman in preparation of the application is going to be looked at seriously. He shouldn't have said anything."

Cllr Greaves said: "I must admit I am very annoyed with officers -- I would stress not with the planning officers and not our legal officer who have been exemplary and incredibly helpful.

"But you look at the list of people at that meeting and they are among the most senior officers in the council. There is something that has gone very much adrift."

He declined to comment further on any role he may have had in the planning application.

Kath Tunstall, Bradford Council's head of service to children and families, was disappointed with the outcome but remained confident the application would proceed.

The home is one of five Bradford Council is seeking to build in the district to house 40 children in care.

But residents believed the site at East Morton did not match criteria for a home because the community had insufficient services and was close to a number of hazards.