Fears for beauty spot

AMEC was forced to stop dumping soil on a meadow in the North Bog next to the Five Rise Locks tourist attraction, after they were spotted by residents last September.

Simon Goodwin, who lives in Fairfax Road which overlooks the site, said he saw workers dumping piles of earth and rubble. But four months on, the 30-foot pile of about 4,000 tonnes is still there.

"I've followed the relief road since the public inquiry in 1993 when the inspector made it clear this land should not be used for soil storage because of the effect it would have on the environment. He also said it would be unsightly," said the 53-year-old. "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw what they were doing and I contacted the Bingley Environmental Transport Association and we got on to Bradford Council."

Bradford Council intervened, as the company didn't have permission to use the land for soil storage, and the dumping stopped - but campaigners are concerned about the future of the land and want it returned to its natural state.

In December AMEC applied for retrospective planning permission to use the land for temporary soil storage. The request is expected to go before planners next month.

Richard Butler, chairman of the Bingley Environmental Transport Association, said: "From Five Rise Locks you can look out on to the North Bog and the land falls away into the meadow. Now you can see a huge pile of soil which has been there so long grass has started to grow on it. But if they hadn't been spotted it would have been much higher."

A Council spokesman confirmed AMEC were caught tipping at the site and had since stopped. He said the company submitted a retrospective planning application which states the soil will be removed in April.

A spokesman for Amec said: "The 1993 Public Enquiry does not rule out a temporary stock piling of topsoil in North Bog and that is all that we are doing. We plan to begin removing that top soil some time in the summer."