A controversial scheme to develop a derelict chapel in a Bingley district village is to be set in stone.

Owner Noel McGurk wants to revamp the Grade II-listed Methodist church in Main Street, Wilsden, into 11 flats.

The plan sparked petitions both for and against. Residents living near the site feared a proposed car park, on the corner of Crack Lane and Main Street where the village green is, would result in the loss of green space and exacerbate traffic dangers at a difficult junction.

The Shipley Area Planning Panel is due to approve the project at its meeting on Thursday, at 10am at Shipley town hall.

Campaigner Sharon Walker, who is trying to claim the footpath across the green as a right of way and who co-ordinated an opposing petition, said she would fight the plan to the end.

"I'm extremely disappointed that I was not told about the meeting but we will make sure that we are there and that residents' views are heard," she said.

"The builder will do the chapel up and move on but it's people living here who will be left with the problems afterwards."

But Wilsden Village Society backed the refurbishment as members said the building was an eyesore.

Meanwhile, a 25-metre phone mast in Gilstead, which protesters said would be a blot on the landscape, is also set to be approved.

Residents opposed the plan for a T-Mobile mast, two transmission dishes and two equipment cabins on the former Yorkshire Water site off Warren Lane, because they feared there would be health risks. The land already has a T-Mobile 15-metre mast, and another Vodafone mast.

But after campaigners complained there were far too many masts in the area, the plan was changed and now the smaller of the two will be removed and the phone companies will share the new pole.

Councillor David Heseltine (Con, Bingley), who backed residents' and Gilstead Village Society's fight, said it was a step forward but not a success.

"It's not something we should be leaping up and down about and I do support villagers who were concerned about the visual impact the structure would have on the hillside," he said.

"The trouble is we have to follow Government guidelines and a hillside is a perfect spot for these masts to pick up signals, and unfortunately this will mean there will be other masts on the site in the future."