THE day of reckoning has finally arrived for all those who have spent the past few years mustering local support in a bid to shape the future of Wharfedale.

Given the number of people from the valley who have attended the Core Strategy hearings before a Government planning inspector in Saltaire, there can be little doubt that the residents of Wharfedale feel passionately about the place their live and the future of their green surroundings.

At the end of the day, it will all be up to the inspector, paying close heed to the current national rules on planning and development, who decide what is and isn’t acceptable in terms of the general blueprint for development across the Bradford district over the next decade and a half.

A lot of work has been put in by people who are essentially volunteers, in terms of really quite complex legal documents, studying and interpreting planning law, and putting together sound cases promoting the good of the area, on behalf of the whole community.

We will have to wait to find out what the decisions are, and indeed wait longer to find out how the rules work when put to the test in the years to come. But certainly, nobody can say Wharfedale has not played its part in this very public process.