A TORY councillor in Kirklees has attacked proposals which he claims could ruin the green belt.

Clr Robert Light, leader of Kirklees Conservatives and Parliamentary Spokesman for Batley and Spen, was responding to reports in a national newspaper that the Government's proposed policies for a future parliament included scrapping green belt protection.

Green belts have been designated in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to restrict the sprawl of built-up areas on to previously undeveloped land and to preserve the character of historic towns.

Clr Light said he believed Labour's plans would provoke outrage across Kirklees.

"The amount of newly-built social housing has fallen by 61% across Yorkshire and Humberside, yet Labour just intend to make up for this failure by bulldozing the rem- aining fields of Batley and Spen," he claimed.

"We all want to see more affordable housing, but abolishing the green belt to make way for more executive homes isn't the answer. We need houses near existing communities that have schools, hospitals and other amenities.

"The Labour Party has told Kirklees that it must release enough land for 20,000 new homes - including 4,600 in Huddersfield - across the borough by 2016. If this happens it could mean the green belt in Batley could disappear altogether."

His comments came after the Examiner revealed yesterday that thousands of new homes could be on the way to Kirklees.