PLANS to build housing on Green Belt land in Burley-in-Wharfedale have been refused for a second time.

The application for 43 homes on land off Burley bypass was submitted a little over a year after plans for 49 homes on the same site were refused by Bradford Council.

Submitted by Jomast Developments and Stonewater Homes, the application included a "community car park" as well as new area of public open space.

The new application described the plans as "a good quality and well-informed development scheme relating to the erection of up to 43 affordable dwellings."

Like the previous application, the latest plan attracted a huge number of objections, with 138 people writing to the Council urging them to refuse the plans.

Burley Parish Council also recommended refusal of the scheme saying: "There has been no change in circumstances since the previous proposal was refused and therefore this current proposal should be refused."

Planning officers have now dismissed the scheme, citing 10 reasons for refusal.

These included that the homes were "inappropriate development" for the Green Belt, that they would harm the Burley Conservation Area, which contains a number of listed buildings, and that "this proposed development together with the intensified use of the site and the additional vehicular traffic is likely to contribute to the deterioration of the current rural environmental characteristics of the area."

Officers also said the planned layout of the homes was poor giving too much priority to cars.

The report giving reason for refusal says: "The site lies within an area defined as green belt on the Replacement Unitary Development Plan for the Bradford District (the RUDP). Policy GB1 of the RUDP closely reflects the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) wherein there is a strong presumption against inappropriate development within such areas. The proposed development would constitute inappropriate development and would be harmful, by definition, to the purposes of including the land within the green belt. In the absence of any very special circumstances which may warrant the proposal being treated as an exception, the proposed development is contrary to Policy GB1 of the Replacement Unitary Development Plan and Section 13 of the National Planning Policy Framework.

"The development would cause substantial harm to the Burley in Wharfedale Conservation Area and the setting of the adjacent Listed Buildings. It is unacceptable in principle and is without any appreciable public benefit in heritage terms."