Fans will create traffic chaos if the Bantams develop a £1.5 million prestige training scheme at Apperley Bridge, according to residents.

The club admits its stars will use the development on green belt for training, although it will be outside peak hours between 10am and 1pm.

But the Apperley Bridge Development Residents' Association believes there will be serious problems as fans drive in to try to see the top players.

The association says similar problems have happened during training with other top clubs including Manchester, Arsenal and Sunderland.

Member Joan Brown said today: "We are very concerned because it is a main route to the airport and the roads would not be able to support large numbers of spectators. We are not against the club having these facilities but we feel this is the wrong place for them."

The residents hope to attend a regulatory committee at City Hall tomorrow when members will consider a planning application for a training ground and other facilities at Elm Tree Farm. If they want the application to be approved it must go to the Secretary of State for Environment, Transport and the Regions, John Prescott, because the site is in green belt.

The association hopes to send a pack to each member of the committee pointing out what it sees as the pitfalls. The association also put in objections to the area planning panel last month on the grounds of anticipated traffic problems, impact on wildlife and birds and loss of green fields.

But officers said then that outdoor recreation was appropriate for green belt and an ecological study which the club had carried out showed there would be no impact on wildlife.

Bradford City's managing director Shaun Harvey said it was a private site which was installing its own parking facilities and would not create any more traffic problems than those which already existed. He added that the club had agreed that, if parking was a problem on the roadside, it would contribute £3,000 towards traffic regulations for the area.

The club's first team players currently train behind Thornbury Barracks, off Leeds Road, and there have been no reported traffic problems through fans.

The application ran into a fresh row yesterday after the council made a mistake and wrote to people who had an interest to tell them it was being heard on September 27.

ABDRA said tomorrow's meeting should be moved to the 27th because of the confusion, but the council said it would stay on tomorrow's agenda and another letter of explanation was being sent out.