A community action group has been set up to fight the building of a car showroom on green fields in Birkenshaw.

Members of the newly-formed group are lobbying residents in the village to encourage them to oppose plans by the Shelf-based Blackshaw Group.

The company has applied to Kirklees Council for permission to demolish a farmhouse and outbuildings on a triangle of land at Heathfield Farm in Whitehall Road, West/Bradford Road and have also submitted an outline application for a business and industrial development, car showroom and workshop on the site.

A decision on the application will eventually be made by members of the Heavy Woollen planning sub-committee.

When worried residents in the village heard about the application, an emergency meeting was called. Ten people formed an action group, who now meet on a weekly basis to discuss the campaign.

David Ratcliffe, whose home overlooks the site, said: "Our concerns are that the development will take away all the green fields between Birkenshaw and the M62 motorway bridge. It will also be visible from a large area around the district.

"The area around Birkenshaw has already had a lot of development and there is a lot of spare industrial space in other areas, such as the M606 estate, which should be used first.

"Birkenshaw suffers from a lot of heavy traffic from the M606, Drighlington, Dewsbury and Bradford and the roundabout already has a bad accident record.

"The site itself, which is about 17 acres, is a real wildlife sanctuary with a paddock of trees.

"Rabbits and birds also frequent the site - we would obviously hate to lose that."

He said the group had resolved to object to the proposals and were in the process of alerting residents in the village - door-knocking and encouraging them to make their views known to the Council.

The site was categorised as Green Belt until it was earmarked for business use in Kirklees Council's Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

Councillor Robert Light (Con, Birstall & Birkenshaw), who attended the public meeting, said: "This application has generated a lot of public concern in the village.

"About 50 people turned up to the meeting and ideas for petitions and letters of objection were put forward. I have been opposed to this all along."