A Baildon councillor fears a mini housing estate, given the green light by Bradford Council, will add to traffic congestion on village roads.

And Coun John Cole (Lib Dem, Baildon) is calling on people who want to protect other plots of land from future schemes to make their views known when the next Unitary Development Plan review gets under way.

Coun Cole was speaking during yesterday's town and country planning (Shipley Area) sub-committee meeting when members approved plans for 17 detached houses on land off Merlinwood Drive at Baildon.

The Council had received three letters of objection from local residents, who said they feared the new properties would overshadow existing homes and cause access problems.

But councillors followed officers' recommendations and approved the scheme subject to conditions and a planning agreement being reached to secure off-site road improvements.

Coun Cole said: "It's difficult to vote against this proposal since the land is designated for housing under the UDP, the developers have come up with a reasonable scheme and have subsequently amended it to fit in better with surrounding properties. Nevertheless, Baildon generally is over-developed and the strain shows in the long queues on roads in and out of the village morning and evening. And 17 homes of this sort of quality is likely to mean 34 more cars which will add to that.''

He added that people concerned about other areas of land should get involved in the next UDP process. The blueprint is due to be adopted in 2002 with a review of sites identified for possible development scheduled to begin next summer.

Meanwhile, councillors have turned down plans for a terraced home in Victoria Road, Saltaire - a former almshouse built by Sir Titus Salt -- to be used as a clinic for alternative healing.

The Council received a petition, signed by 16 local residents, who believed the scheme would worsen parking problems and result in loss of privacy.

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