Campaigners fighting to protect green fields in Bradford have argued that consultation forms on plans for 2,700 new homes are “counter-productive” as most residents are finding them “too daunting” to complete.

The Save Tong and Fulneck Valley Association has criticised Bradford Council’s consultation with residents in Holme Wood over plans to build on a section of green belt land as part of a larger development.

Bradford Council is seeking views on its Holme Wood and Tong Neighbourhood Develop-ment Plan (NDP), which aims to provide a vision and framework for regeneration, housing quality and growth.

Canon Gordon Dey, association chairman, said 1,800 homes were planned for green belt land in the Tong and Fulneck Valley.

He said: What they are trying to do is frankly, I believe, take advantage of a poor and disadvantaged community and dump houses on that community in a huge style.”

Mr Dey said to complete the consultation form, residents had to read an 18-page planning document.

He said: “I have sat with people trying to give them a hand a bit, but nobody finds it easy. It is too daunting. I began trying to work with this thinking ‘let’s try to encourage people to do this’, but the more you try the more you realise this is counter-productive really.”

Councillor Val Slater said she was disappointed Canon Day had been “patronising about the ability of residents to understand the consultation documents”.

She said: “These documents are easy to read, are written in plain English and contain many photographs and maps."

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