Bradford Green Party warn that online consultation for local plan risks excluding some residents from “such a vitally important consultation”.
Greens have also asked if residents without access to the internet are going to have less of a chance to contribute to a consultation that is being run as a primarily online exercise.
Councillor Martin Love, the leader of the Green Party group on Bradford Council and ward councillor for Shipley has said:
“This local plan has been coming for a long time now and we are extremely unhappy that Bradford Council have chosen to run such a vitally important consultation in the middle of a pandemic, when it is impossible to run open events for residents to attend and ask questions.
“By running this as an online exercise you are straight away excluding people that don’t have access to the internet. The council is sending paper copies to those who request it but its likely that you would need access to the internet to find this out!
The Local Plan will still see up to 20 per cent of the homes proposed built on sites that are currently Green Belt – including 2,500 houses in the Tong Valley to the east of Holmewood.
Matt Edwards, a Green Party community campaigner in Tong Ward has said,
“The pandemic had made people appreciate their local open spaces more than ever and it is very important that we protect these precious places as much as possible.
“I am really concerned that in the draft of the local plan Bradford Council is still leaving the door open for a new road through the Tong Valley and potential future developments there.
“The valley occupies one of the last pockets of green space between Leeds and Bradford and local people on all sides of the valley have made it very clear that they want to see this protected for future generations.”