A HOUSING development in Burley-in-Wharfedale has been branded as 'disgraceful' by a community councillor.

Dick Hargrave said he summed up many villagers' feelings when he said that the development at Wellfield Farm had ruined the look of the village.

He said: "It is terrible. They have spoilt the entrance to the village. There are houses built all over the place. There is no uniformity at all. It is disgraceful."

Mr Hargrave, a member of the planning sub-committee, said that the houses, built by Wilcon Homes, did not live up to his expectations from looking at the initial plans.

Mr Hargrave said: "I did see the plans but they looked different. I did not realise they would be so tall and have windows in the roof. I thought they would be more like ordinary semi-detached houses.

"If you look from the Sun Lane end they look awful. I also did not realise that they would be all over the place."

Mr Hargrave, who has lived in the village most of his life, was also angered at the developer's choice of stone.

He said: "It is not in keeping with the other part of West Terrace. They are all old stone buildings and this is a different type of stone."

Mr Hargrave urged councillors, at a meeting of the council last week, to keep a watchful eye on further developments at the site.

He said: "We will have to go careful because they are measuring up in the next field."

He added that he would not welcome more houses of a similar style nearby.

John Gundry, vice-chairman of the council, said he thought the surveying work was being carried out because an application was likely to be made in the next Unitary Development Plan to have the land taken out of greenbelt.

Another councillor told the meeting he had heard suggestions that potential buyers had demanded their deposits back after seeing the finished houses.

Mr Hargrave told the Gazette, after the meeting, that he would be keeping an eye on planning applications for the former school at Aireville Terrace, which has also been bought by Wilcon Homes.

Mr Hargrave said: "We shall definitely watch the Aireville Terrace job to make sure they do not build the same kind of houses."

Mr Gundry said: "There is a fair amount of feeling in the village against them. It is what you see when you come in from Ilkley.

"There are some complaints that the houses further back are not arranged in any sort of sense.

"But they are not nearly as bad as they might have been. On the original plans they were proposing to build three-storey tall houses. As they stand they are two and a half storeys, with the third being in the roof.

"It is regrettable but this is what you get nowadays."

Wharfedale Newspapers contacted Wilcon Homes but no-one was available to comment on the matter.