More than 70 sites have been identified by Bradford council officers where new development could take place in the Keighley area.

The locations have been earmarked as part of City Hall's vacant urban land survey, which has pinpointed 260 such plots throughout the Bradford area.

Residents in Keighley are being urged to scrutinise the map which identifies the locations and make their feelings known to council officers before the end of March.

A total of 74 sites have been identified in the Keighley area with the Worth Valley and Keighley north ward - which takes in Riddlesden, East Morton and Long Lee - having the most with 20 each.

Officers have also identified:

14 patches of land in Keighley west - the Utley, Bee-chcliffe and Braithwaite area

13 in Craven, which covers the Silsden and Steeton area

seven in Keighley south - Bracken Bank and Woodhouse.

Bradford council's Keighley area coordinator Patrick Law-ton says the issue will be raised at all the upcoming neighbourhood forum meetings in the Keighley area to encourage people to take part in the consultation.

"We want to hear what people think should happen to the land so more effective use can be made of it and also to find any other sites that are missing from the survey," he says.

"The idea is to increase the re-use of previously developed urban sites - brown-field sites - for business, community buildings, housing or public open space."

A questionnaire has been published which people can complete. The map showing the locations can be seen at the information centre in Keighley Town Hall.

David McKay, of Haworth Combined Residents Action group, calls on residents to respond to the consultation opportunity. "It is very important that we identify brown-field sites that are vacant and to say what uses they can be put to," he says. "If nobody picks them out then a developer can come along and we will have lost our opportunity to influence what happens."

Forthcoming neighbourhood forums are:

Wednesday, January 20, Laycock, Laycock Village Hall; Thursday, January 21, Woodhouse/Spring Bank, Wesley Place Methodist Chapel; January 26, Parkwood, Park-wood Community Centre; January 27, Highfield, Highfield Middle School; February 3, East Morton/Riddlesden, Riddlesden Institute; February 4, Oakworth, Holden Hall; February 10, Bracken Bank, Sue Belcher Community Centre; February 23, Stockbridge/Eastwood/-Lawkholme/Showfield, Eastwood First School; Braithwaite/Guard House, Whinfield Community Centre.

All forums start at 7pm.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.