The report today about the stresses and strains on the infrastructure of the village of Queensbury because of an increase in house-building is a problem that many rapidly-growing communities in the district are experiencing.

Renewed activity on building sites might be a welcome indicator of an improving economic landscape, but the addition of more and more homes in villages around Bradford brings with it separate issues.

Even when developments are not swallowing up the countryside – as frequently highlighted with our Save Our Green Spaces campaign – they are putting increasing pressure on the services and roads.

Communities such as Queensbury have built up organically and were never intended to play host to huge numbers of houses full of people living modern lives – commuting, often in multiple cars, out of the village each morning and back again in the evening.

Roads are often narrow and twisty and are simply not built to deal with large volumes of traffic. Schools struggle to cope with the extra numbers on their rolls brought in with sudden influxes of families into new developments, and extra homes require services and utilities.

When planning permission is granted for new housing, it surely must be a prime consideration to scrutinise the existing infrastructure and make-up of the location.

Simply putting up dozens of houses at a time and hoping that the roads and community will naturally absorb the newcomers is simply not a good enough tactic, and it would surely make more sense to put the work into upgrading the facilities before allowing new developments to commence.