The ongoing saga of the Sty Lane site in Micklethwaite, near Bingley, has no end in immediate sight after a Government department announced it has yet to decide on the area’s future.

The decision on whether 440 houses can be built on greenfields alongside the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was expected to have been decided by last week, but the delay leaves campaigners anxiously waiting to find if the Government will side with them or developers Redrow and Bellway Homes, which first submitted their plans in 2011.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles was expected to make his decision on April 25, but the date came and went with no word either way.

However members of the Greenhill Action Group, which is oppopsing the homes’ plans, said they do not mind waiting if it means Mr Pickles is giving their arguments full consideration.

Terry Brown, chairman of the Greenhill Action Group, said: “It is good they are not trying to rush the decision, I just hope they listen to what we had to say and don’t make it a political decision.

“The residents around here have always shown great support in trying to get it refused.”