AN Ilkley councillor fears that work on land next to Skipton Road is being carried out to prepare it for housing development.

Coun Martin Smith has written to planners and enforcement officers in a bid to have the land restored to its former state.

The area of land lies on the outskirts of the town near Hollins Hall Farm and Hall Croft where work has been going on since last year.

In his letter Coun Smith says: "This land was inhabited by wildlife, with a bog area and insect life and this has been lost and the land suffers redundant materials on site and has been severely sculptured by access roads.

"This land is now a disgrace and is clearly being used to tip soil in an effort to level the site. This land is green belt and will remain so. Local residents have now lost a green area which has become a derelict piece of land and it must be returned to the green belt."

Coun Smith told the Gazette that he was now waiting to hear from the Council's enforcement officer to see if they had the powers to make sure the land is restored.

He said he feared that once the site was levelled off a planning application for housing could be submitted.

Efforts to contact the land's owners to verify Coun Smith's claims as the Gazette was going to press were unsuccessful.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.