EVERY household in Sutton is being urged to get involved in a major project to safeguard future development of the village.

The hope is to produce a document which will make sure Sutton's historical features, which give the village its character, are not lost within any new buildings to be constructed in the future.

A new group has been formed with the task of co-ordinating the project, known as a village design statement.

The idea has come from the Countryside Commission, which is anxious to make sure future building in rural areas does not take away from the distinctiveness of small towns and villages like Sutton.

The idea already has the backing of planners from Craven District Council which would adopt the completed design statement and use it when considering planning applications in Sutton.

Local pub landlord Chris Suri is the man behind the idea.

He has recruited a number of interested people who will begin the work of getting the entire village involved.

"This is a chance for people in the village to have a say on how it develops," he told the Craven Herald.

"With controversial housing sites such as Alvic Field, Crag Lane and the former Silentnight site, I thought the time was right to do something about it.

"Sutton has a lot of heritage and a lot of character and I don't want to see that lost in the future."

One of those who agreed to take on the project from the start is architectural consultant Guy Taylor.

He has been living in Sutton for 12 months and is already aware of how its character can be altered by future building work.

"This is an ideal opportunity for people to improve the standard of architecture in the village," he said.

"I don't think you can stop development, but you can make sure that it's in context."

Meetings of the village design group are set to take place every third Wednesday in the month at the Black Bull, Holme Lane, Sutton.

A photographic record of areas of the village with architectural significance and "disasters" will be taken before inviting villagers to a design workshop.

A village design statement has already been tried and tested in Oxenhope.

Reginald Hindley, from Oxenhope Parish Council, said: "Bradford Council adopted our village design as a supplement to its existing planning guidance and it appears to be enforcing those guidelines.

"We tried to be realistic and insist on decent design in context with the settlement that is there already.

"Hopefully it will stop developers proposing silly ideas which look like they could be in any suburb in the country.

"We're quite pleased with the results."