Angry residents in Bingley have vowed to take legal action after planning permission for a £1.21 million housing scheme for low-income families was granted.

Residents in Canary Drive, Gilstead, claim they were duped by planning officers after accommodation earmarked for pensioners was replaced by family accommodation. Sixteen three-bedroom houses will be built on land off Canary Drive on a shared-ownership basis to first-time buyers.

North British Housing Association applied for planning permission after Bryant Homes and Redrow Homes agreed to sell the land.

At a heated meeting at Shipley Town Hall yesterday residents claimed they had been cheated.

Peter Butler said they were expecting homes for the elderly and that families would put a burden on the schools and doctors' surgeries, and shared ownership of the properties would result in the value of their detached homes falling.

Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East) backed the residents, saying: "You have been stitched up."

Mr Butler, a businessman who has lived in his four-bedroom detached home for 20 months, said he was outraged and would be seeking legal advice. "We were initially told that ten units for the elderly would be built. Now we are looking at 16 family homes, he said."

He understood the concept of providing good quality, affordable homes for people, but said shared ownership of the houses, which in his opinion are valued at about £300,000, would still mean they were out of reach for low income families. "We accepted that housing would be built for the elderly but this is something totally different," he said.

Housing strategy manager Mohammed Shabir said assessments for the whole district had been carried out and there was a need for this type of housing. He said there was a shortfall of 1, 381 units of housing in the Bingley area. "We are trying to make up for that gap by building these houses and further houses will be built which will be specifically for the elderly," Mr Shabir added.

Families on low incomes would be able to buy 50 per cent of the house, rent the rest, and have the option to increase ownership when they were in a position to do so, eventually buying the property.

Coun Thornton said: "I fully sympathise with the residents. I understand that affordable housing needs to be built but the residents were not expecting this."

l Plans for a new indoor riding arena and outdoor menage at St Ives look set to get the go-ahead after councillors backed a decision to refer the application to the regulatory and appeals committee.

Proposals for the disabled riding centre at Home Farm, Harden Road, Bingley, include providing the therapeutic service of riding for the disabled. As well as a new indoor arena there would be a two storey reception and viewing area, and toilets.