A shocked couple today told how they stumbled across plans to put a major new cycle route across their garden.

Now Christine and Adrian Naylor fear they could soon have dozens of cyclists rolling by the bedroom windows of their dream bungalow.

The couple's garden, at their £350,000 detached bungalow in Kingston Road, Thackley, Bradford, was once part of a disused railway line but is now designated as a route for the cycle track in the district's Unitary Development Plan, currently being considered at a six-month public inquiry at Victoria Hall, Saltaire.

Mr and Mrs Naylor have also discovered that they are too late to object to the plan and can now only attend the inquiry as observers.

Today they were alerting neighbours to the predicament and were starting a petition to try to try to halt the proposal.

Mrs Naylor said their main reason for buying the bungalow "off the beaten track" was to find a safe and traffic-free area for their children.

But if the plan gets the go-ahead, the cycle route could even eventually feed into a national cycle network.

Kevin Saunders, senior press officer for Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity supporting the national cycle network, said their map showed a local route in the early stages of planning.

He said it could eventually become an offshoot of Route 66, a coast to coast cycle track which has already opened.

Mrs Naylor said: "Nobody told us about it. But about two weeks ago I looked for my house on a map showing the proposals for the replacement of the existing UDP and I couldn't believe it."

She said the land was part of the former railway line running between Idle and Thackley but had been bought about 15 years ago by a developer and built on.

"We bought the house here about two years ago and have spent about £10,000 landscaping the banking," she said. "The track would come out of my garden and run adjacent to about nine houses in Harper Crescent and they don't seem to have known about it.

"I have spoken to the Council and asked what the situation would be with trespassing if the cycle path went over our garden. They said they may buy the land but I have told them it isn't up for sale.

"The route would form part of a loop round Bradford and this would completely destroy our privacy. We recently got permission for a granny flat in the garden and there are protected trees.

"The cycle path would go along the entire length of the bungalow about ten feet away from windows. "

Mrs Naylor, whose children are aged ten and six, said parents in the area did not let youngsters use the playing areas in Idle because they were unable to keep an eye on them.

"As a result many come to play here where they are safe," she said. "It would be very dangerous to have them playing near a public track. The cyclists would even go up a private drive used by three properties."

But the Council's executive member for the environment, Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, whose remit includes the UDP, said the cycle routes were a "wish list" and may not necessarily happen.

And group planning manager Andy Haigh - the main officer dealing with the UDP - said: "The purpose of the plan is not to plough up people's gardens."

He added if the scheme went ahead there would be planning applications, negotiations and the chance to make detailed representations.

The UDP will dictate land use over the next 15 years across the district but all sites would not necessarily be developed, said Mr Haigh.

"There was widespread consultation about the UDP and it was widely publicised," he said. "The line shown means we would like to negotiate and try to deliver a cycle route there but it could be a very long time."

He added it would be part of a cycle track in Bradford North eventually linking into the towpath at Apperley Bridge if it materialised.

Coun Hawkesworth said: "The cycle links shown are a wish list rather than an actual plan."