A ward councillor has attacked an “incomplete” development blueprint for the Bradford District as he urges Ilkley residents to have their say before time runs out.

Councillor Martin Smith (Con, Ilkley) has also criticised a Bradford Council consultation form on the Core Strategy as being “unnecessarily complex”.

Coun Smith is encouraging as many local residents as possible to have their say on the draft Core Strategy – the key policy document of the forthcoming Local Plan for the district – before consultation ends on Monday.

In his own consultation response, Coun Smith told the Council there was a lack of cohesiveness in the arguments put forward in the Core Strategy.

He said: “The document does not give a full cohesive analysis of the number, location, work placements, education, transport, health and infrastructure needs either in Bradford or Ilkley and especially not in relation to the approved Leeds Core Strategy.

“Bradford’s plan was carried out on a purely percentage basis for where the houses are needed and is therefore incomplete.”

The first priority should be building in the Bradford city and Shipley areas where there is a growing population, he says, and then building on brownfield sites which are close to the work opportunities and not a bus or train ride away.

“Sites in Ilkley suggested in the SHLAA are at serious traffic stress points and could not be safely developed and no solution to this has been put forward,” Coun Smith added.

He also claimed there had been little understanding of the number of windfall sites in the last ten years and urged Ilkley people who have not already done so to have their say in the consultation process. “We do need to get as many comments in as possible as numbers count,” he said.

In his formal response to the consultation, Coun Smith pointed out the high use of the A65, a need for a park and ride near Addingham, and parking issues which would be exacerbated by more new homes.

Local schools are already at full capacity, he said, and GP practices already over-committed.

And he questioned the potential loss of more grassland for farming.

“There is little understanding between the various Councils Directorates and also relative to the resident’s needs and little or no relation to the Localism Bill,” said Coun Smith.