High-density housing will not conflict with the character of a Bingley conservation area, according to a Bradford planning officer.

Bill Caulfield, Bradford Council planning department team leader, referred to the allocation of housing off Sty Lane in Micklethwaite, Bingley, bordering part of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Five Rise Locks.

His comments came as he was being cross-examined by objector Tony Plumbe, a Bingley resident for 22 years, on the last day of the public inquiry into Bradford's replacement Unitary Development Plan.

Mr Plumbe's main concerns were the effects that housing development would have on the landscape and environmental and archaeological factors. Other objectors have already put forward arguments about sustainability and distances from local amenities.

At yesterday's inquiry he asked Mr Caulfield what type of housing would be built to meet policy framework of 30 to 50 houses per hectare in a development, but he replied that it depended on what type of housing was built.

"This is a rural setting at the edge of a conservation area - don't you think high-density housing would be out of character?" asked Mr Plumbe.

Mr Caulfield said: "I don't think high density housing would be in conflict with the character of a conservation area."

With regards to the archaeological value of the site, Mr Caulfield added that West Yorkshire Archaeological Society did not consider it a valid reason to change its allocation.

Government planning inspector Cliff Hughes, who has heard all three days' evidence for and against building on the site, will make his decisions about the Council's planning blueprint in a few months.