We comment on national legislation and respond to government consultations, for example within the last year, the Planning White Paper, Statements of Community Involvement, Statutory Consultee Status and Permitted Development Rights.

We have responded to each stage of consultation on the Bradford Local Plan and have been involved from its inception in the Ilkley Neighbourhood Plan.

We scrutinise and comment as necessary on every planning application submitted in Ilkley ward. Many of our comments are positive and encourage owners and developers to aspire to make improvements to their plans.

We keep an eye on our local area and report to Enforcement those developments which appear to have gone ahead without planning permission.

We run an annual design competition to encourage good quality developments in our town.

We keep a particular watch on the three conservation areas and from time to time suggest buildings for Historic England listing.

All of our comments are available to the public and we are happy to discuss plans with owners, developers, neighbours and civic society members when needed/

Planning Report for 2024-5

Each year the civic society views all planning applications submitted to Bradford Council in the Ilkley Ward, and a table of the numbers of comments made appears below. The following is a summary of the key issues of 2024.The numbers of planning applications in Bradford as a whole was up slightly this year the first increase in 3 years to 4857 from 4695 last year and a peak of 6360 in 2021. ICS commented on 76 of the 229 that were in the Ilkley Ward boundary. This represents about 9 viewed in each fortnightly batch that we examine.

Significant applications and decisions during 2024-5 included –

Specific sites
The demolition of Hollycroft (former nursing home on Hebers Ghyll Dr) was prevented because the historic building is identified as a Key Unlisted building. Plans where re submitted with the retention of the historic Key Unlisted building and construction of a new extension, this was approved but still awaits work starting as the building deteriorates further. 
Work continues on the land behind Kimberly St, Ashlands Rd to construct 9 houses and a veterinary surgery.
Robin Hill, Clifford Rd was demolished and a new build of 7 apartment is in progress.
The Factory Shop, Wheatley Lane, a simple but attractive 1930’s building, (a Rolls Royce dealership originally) was demolished and work proceeds to build a Starbucks. 
A major application to demolish the old 1960’s buildings at Ilkley Grammar School and replace with more useful and energy efficient buildings is awaiting a decision.
Yorkshire Water has also submitted applications for various works at Ilkley Sewage Works and to create an Integrated Constructed Wetland (ICW) on Denton Rd. Some works are ongoing that YW can implement without planning permission.
Land at Skipton Rd for 39 properties has received approval but work has not commenced.
Late in the year two applications have been submitted by Nell Bank to revise access arrangements to facilitate the Yorkshire Water ICW.
Finally, an application has been submitted to convert the former Kirkwood Nursing Home on Moorfield Rd into 5 residential units. 

Common themes
Planning applications continue to attempt to squeeze new houses into small sites, which is not always beneficial to neighbours.
Whilst small in number, we still see some applications repeated numerous times to try and obtain permission following refusals.
Large 2 storey garages and car parks also remain a trend as do excessively large dormer windows.
Continued loss of commercial space and conversion to residential may appear to help housing numbers, but reduces employment opportunities in the town and creates more commuting out of town.
Our Conservation Areas also continue to lose authenticity by removal of historic features  and thus both visual and financial value.

If you have a planning query, please contact us on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

An analysis of Civic Society planning activity for the last seven years::