A NEW development of affordable housing in Silsden will include chicanes on its roads to reduce traffic speeds.

At a meeting of Bradford Council’s regulatory and appeals committee, members approved details of a plan to build 156 houses on the former Riverside Works in Silsden.

Members were told that the application for the former industrial site included some last-minute additions – three chicanes on the roads that will wind through the housing estate.

Highways officers said the measures, more traditionally used to reduce speed on busy roads, would help with the council’s efforts to reduce speed on all new housing estates to 20mph.

Proposals for housing on the site were first approved in outline form in 2018, despite numerous objections.

That application was for 142 houses, none of which would have been classed as “affordable”. To make-up for the lack of affordable housing, the developer was to pay Bradford Council almost £350,000 to provide affordable housing elsewhere.

The new plans by Lindum Group and Yorkshire Housing are for more houses, all of which would be designated as affordable. Because of this, there would also be no financial contribution to the council.

The site, which housed a former weaving mill until it was demolished in 2013, has previously been earmarked for a supermarket and filling station.

Plans for housing on the site were approved in 2018 and the latest application was for the finer details of those proposals, including the design of the houses and the internal road layouts.

There had been a number of objections to the plans, raising concerns over possible flooding of the site and traffic on neighbouring roads.

John Eyles – major developments manager – pointed out that all these issues were considered when the outline plans were submitted, adding: “I don’t think some of the members of the public who objected appreciate this – all these matters were dealt with at the outline stage.”

He said neither flood officers nor the Environment Agency had raised any concern about developing the site.

John Rowley, principal engineer at the council, pointed out that the chicanes had recently been added to the plans.

Bradford Council’s homes and neighbourhoods design guide, revealed last year, was set-up to shape future housing developments. One policy in the guide is that roads in new housing developments have a 20mph speed limit “designed in”.

Mr Rowley said this was the case in this application, adding: “We try to design all housing sites with a 20mph limit, that’s why I asked for chicanes to be included in these plans, to keep speeds low.

“We haven’t asked for a 20mph speed limit, we’ve designed it so the speeds are kept low – so cars can’t get up to high speeds.

“The ability to enforce speed limits in housing estates like this is is very low, so the best way to deal with the issue is to incorporate designs that discourage people from trying to get up to higher speeds.”

Committee chairman Councillor David Warburton said: “I’ve seen this site pass through a number of different schemes, including a supermarket.

“There is a clear requirement for affordable housing in this area, and this is a suitable scheme to bring forward.”