The district's biggest landlord has denied claims that it is neglecting its tenants in Cullingworth.

Bradford Community Housing Trust insists the village is among its key priorities for improvements.

Housing manager Harry Whittle made the assurance at a meeting of Shipley Area Committee and its advisory group.

Mr Whittle was responding to a claim from Cullingworth Parish Council that the village appeared to have been neglected.

The housing trust manages thousands of homes across the district formerly owned by Bradford Council.

The parish council had asked how tenants could find out when their homes were due to be modernised.

Councillors called for rural areas such as Cullingworth to have a proportion of available funds set aside for them.

Mr Whittle responded that the housing trust was committed to modernising all its housing.

Forward plans were not publicised too far in advance because time scales often changed and the trust did not want to raise tenants' hopes only to dash them later.

Mr Whittle said decisions on which homes to refurbish were led by the condition of the properties rather than their location.

But he pointed out that in recent years there had been considerable modernisation work in several rural villages, including Crossflatts.

The housing trust told the committee that homes in Roydwood Terrace, Culling-worth, had also been comprehensively modernised.

The trust had reviewed many of its garage sites to see whether any were suitable for building affordable housing.

Work had already started on a small housing development at one such site in Cullingworth.