A housing developer was today accused of "riding roughshod" over planners and nearby homeowners on a new Bradford estate.

Residents next to the Bryant Homes Cote Farm site in Leeds Road, Thackley, say the firm has put up a brick wall that was not on any plans and raised the height of an area of land before building houses on it.

They also claim the company has caused floods in two gardens.

But today a Bryant Homes spokesman said the company was working within Bradford Council regulations and she added: "We have replaced an old fence which was on our land. In our opinion the development is actually improving any surface water run off."

Resident, Jim Hainsworth, has complained to the Local Government Ombudsman claiming the Council never told residents around the site just how high they would be and that it was letting the firm get away with changes to the original building plans.

He said: "They never told us they were going to stick an 8ft high fence at the bottom of my garden - I would have objected to it if I'd known.

"I have complained to the Ombudsman because the council never told us how tall these houses would be."

Steve Gardiner, who lives in Dale Grove, said he and his neighbours were not against the housing development.

But he claimed he had been forced to put up with surface water running over his lawn since the company diverted the drainage while a 5ft-plus retaining wall which he claimed was not on any plans appeared on the other side of his own boundary wall.

"We have tried to get it sorted out but they just don't care and the council lets them do what they want."

Idle ward councillor Jeanette Sunderland said: "Bryant Homes appear to operate with almost complete disregard for members of the community."

A council spokesman refused to comment because of the Ombudsman's investigation.

A spokesman for the Ombudsman said its investigator was due to meet Mr Hainsworth tomorrow: "We have received a very full response to Mr Hainsworth's complaint from Bradford Council and we are poised to make a decision."

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