A battling villager has secured legal aid to take big business and Government plans for a landfill to the High Court.

Maureen Smith is spearheading the latest twist in the fight by Denholme residents to block plans by Integrated Waste Management (IWM) for the waste site in Buck Park Quarry, Whalley Lane.

She is receiving support from the Denholme Residents' Action Group (DRAG) which has met the costs of the initial work needed to secure Mrs Smith's legal aid.

It is the latest saga in a battle which has lasted more than two years and is now set to be heard at London's High Court on October 27.

Mrs Smith, 60, said: "I've lived in Denholme for 27 years and don't want a landfill in the village with all its smells and traffic, why should we be left with everyone's rubbish?

"This is not just for me. I've got grandchildren and I don't want them to have to put up with a landfill, especially not when you see how the site at Cullingworth has gone out of control.

"I was surprised when we got the legal aid letter but now that I have I'm sure we can win our case."

But Mrs Smith's solicitor, Fatema Patwa, underlined the difficulty of the battle ahead.

She said: "This particular development is worth millions of pounds and courts are not quick to stop such projects.

"Statistics show it is very hard for objectors to succeed in opposing large developments but, in my view, Mrs Smith's case is quite good."

Bradford Council first granted then denied IWM permission for the landfill before a Government Inspector gave the site the go ahead in March.

Mrs Smith is initially appealing on the grounds that the inspector could have refused the application on the basis of smell and noise from the site, which he said was a matter for the Environment Agency, and that final plans have not been produced detailing how IWM intends to minimise these problems.

DRAG says: "We had a fun day which raised more than £1,200 and will help cover Mrs Smith's initial bills.We just wanted to ensure that she didn't have to pay anything for the work which went into securing legal aid."

David Senior, who is an adviser to DRAG, said: "This is a real breakthrough enabling us to proceed with the statutory appeal and indicating that our case is considered strong enough to receive support from the tax payer."

IWM said it had no comment to make.