Building work has made an upmarket area of Menston feel more like Beirut, according to a disgruntled resident.

Meg Pugh is opposing a neighbour's plan to build a detached house in their garden at Victoria Avenue.

The property, which will front onto Westbourne Drive, is in the outline planning stage.

But some neighbours are objecting, claiming they have already suffered disruption from building work on land in front of Victoria Avenue.

The application has been submitted by Mr and Mrs Bailey, who are already in the process of having a bungalow built for their retirement on land in front of their home.

A similar application for a detached house fronting onto Westbourne Drive has also been submitted to planning officials by another neighbour.

Mrs Pugh of Fairfax Avenue, said the two storey detached bungalow which was under construction had already blocked out light to the front of her house and she fears the second development could do the same to the back.

She said "The building work started on January 2 and it has been like Beirut outside my house. It is hell.

"It has been almost a year of absolute disruption. It has been so awful at times that we have had to go away. We have not been able to hear ourselves think."

Mrs Pugh, who has submitted an official objection to the planning department at Ilkley, stressed: "We are going to have a lot more noise and loss of light if this application is approved."

But Mrs Bailey said she was surprised by the objection, and she argued that Mrs Pugh was not even a close neighbour.

She stressed that she loved the area and was doing her best to liaise with neighbours and to minimise disruption.

She said "We love the district and much as anybody - we have been here 45 years. We could have sold this whole plot for a lot of money and we could have had something like a dozen bungalows up."

Mrs Bailey said they had held a neighbour's meeting before applying for permission, but had not invited the Pughs as they didn't expect the developments to affect their street.

She acknowledged that the neighbourhood had suffered a week of bad disturbance in January because of piling to deal with springs in the ground.

She stressed:"I am surprised by this objection because Fairfax Avenue has not had a single lorry going along it."

A spokesman for the planning department confirmed that two or three objections had been received about the two new applications. He said Mr and Mrs Bailey had got planning permission some years ago to build on land in front of their home. The latest application , along with a similar one from their next door neighbour were both only outline applications at the moment.