It is hardly surprising that developers should be hungrily eyeing any available plot of building land in Ilkley, such as the one currently occupied by the Wheatley Hotel and its car park. Property in Ilkley means big money, as the rapid sale of a small development of properties in the £1 million-plus range in Gill Bank Grange has made very clear.

It is a highly desirable town and people with the right sort of money are prepared to pay a substantial premium to acquire a house there. Unfortunately for those lower down the income scale, the steady rise in prices means that they are increasingly being squeezed out of Ilkley's property market.

If their needs are to be met, there has to be more building not of £1 million homes but of affordable, higher-density housing.

Ironically, one of the reasons given by the Planning Committee of Ilkley Parish Council for rejecting the application to build on the Wheatley site was that it was proposed to include more "units" per hectare than government policy currently allows. It is not clear just what price range those properties would have been in, but the proposed density suggests that they would have been more affordable than the Gill Bank Grange development.

It is understandable that residents of Ben Rhydding should be opposed to new houses in their back yard. But if young people are to be able to find homes in the town where they grew up, the townspeople might have to get used to the idea of similar brownfield sites being turned over to housing, particularly if it is in the right price range to meet local needs.