Plans to build ten houses in a garden at Cark Road, Keighley, have been approved.

Members of Keighley Area Planning Panel said they had “no problems” with proposals to develop the three and four-storey family homes in the back garden of a property called Ryelands.

Planning officers recommended the plans should be approved, arguing the houses would make efficient use of a brownfield site.

But Keighley Town Council’s planning committee recommended refusal, citing concerns over increased traffic.

Bradford Council planning officer Martyn Burke said previous applications to build either 19 or 12 houses in the same area had been withdrawn.

He said the land was currently extremely overgrown with trees and scrub vegetation.

He said the council tree officer dealing with the application was still not “100 per cent happy” with the plan to fell some of the trees.

But he said he felt the application struck the best balance possible by offering to retain trees with a higher conservation value.

Ward councillor Khadim Hussain, speaking in support of the proposals, said they would help address the neighbourhood’s overcrowding problems. Mr Burke said environmental protection officers were happy with recommendations made by a noise report, commissioned by the applicant to tackle any railway disturbance.

Responding to the fears about kerbside congestion, Geoff Marsh, of Bradford Council highways department, said there would be sufficient off-street parking on the development site itself.

Speaking after last Thursday’s meeting, applicant Shahid Rasool said the latest plans made a major concession to calls to protect the site’s trees, by agreeing to only ten houses instead of 19.