Children in Bingley are leading a battle to stop houses being built on land they want to turn into a playground.

Land at the top of Stanley Street has been earmarked as a site for housing in Bradford Council's draft Unitary Development Plan (UDP).

But youngsters and their parents have been campaigning for about 18 months to have the disused land and old garages converted into a park. Around £10,000 has been raised by the community over the past year towards a park scheme.

Now the children, aged three to 11, have created a huge banner saying 'We want a park - not houses' and hung it across the site.

Ten-year-old Claire Farish, of Stanley Street, contacted the Telegraph & Argus and said she would do anything to have the land saved. "It's silly having more houses up here - what we need most is a playground."

Claire's mum Angela Coulton said there are about 100 children living around the cluster of streets off Mornington Road near the Stanley Street site.

"There is nowhere decent for them to play," she said, "We have been trying to get something done about this patch for a long time and there's no way we're going to allow houses to be built there.

"The children are really upset but they have a real fighting spirit and will do all they can to have a playground."

Mother-of-three Jucinda Taylor, 29, said more homes would also create more traffic.

"What we need around here is more facilities for young people of all ages." A spokesman for Bradford Council's planning department said: "The site was identified through a study of vacant and underused land done in 1998.

"Any objections, including those from this group of children, which cannot be resolved will be considered at a public inquiry into the plan."

On Thursday the T&A featured a similar campaign led by children on neighbouring Belgrave Road. They are fighting to save Jer Wood and Crow Nest field which have been proposed in the UDP as potential housing sites.

Objections to the UDP - the Council's planning blueprint which will guide development in the district over the next decade - should be sent to Bradford Council by August 7.