Housing Minister and local MP Kris Hopkins has come out in support of what many people in this area have been campaigning about – saving our beautiful green spaces from over-zealous housing development.

Of course, a growing population means that people need somewhere to live. But that does not mean we should happily raze our fields, moors and valleys and concrete them over to provide top-of-the-range homes.

There are already many, many existing sites which are more suitable for development in our towns and urban areas, which are already close to existing infrastructure and transport networks.

Mr Hopkins calls on Bradford Council to meet its housing target by allocating more housing in the city centre, by using available land and by bringing disused homes back into use.

While developers might prefer to build high specification homes in beautiful rural locations to maximise their profits, that is not really what people who require housing need. They want affordable housing in urban locations.

It is this type of home that will accommodate the large social housing need that undoubtedly exists.

The housing population boom is not in Keighley and Ilkley and the rural areas around them – it’s in the centre of Bradford. It is important that having made his views clear on the matter, the minister now works closely with Bradford Council to reduce the impetus to develop greenfield sites and help bring in builders who are prepared to take on the city centre demand.

And hopefully the voices of the thousands of local residents who backed our campaign will now be heard, and our precious green spaces protected from being ravaged by developers.

Next chapter for the school

The departure of Ilkley Grammar School’s head teacher is a notable event in the history of the town.

For more than ten years, Gillian James has been a significant figure in the community, not least because she is known to the entire school community.

The school, and indeed the shape of education itself, has gone through many changes since she first became head.

Her departure raises questions of what the next chapter will be in the life of the school. Ilkley Grammar has gained its academy status under Mrs James’ headship. But another major debate during her time as head has, of course, been that over the building of a new school.

The Government’s Building Schools for the Future scheme is no more, so a new school building in Ben Rhydding is as good as ruled out. But this does not mean the need to increase capacity at the school no longer remains.

The school’s next head, along with its governors, and the entire school community, will no doubt need to look again at the issue in the future.