Silsden residents are to seek permission to take council bosses to the High Court over their handling of a long running saga of a dangerous underground culvert.

Members of Silsden Parish Council voted to seek what is known as a judicial review against Bradford Council after five years of battling to get the culvert repaired.

The culvert runs under land owned by Bradford Council known locally as Bradley Green.

Video evidence has shown that parts of the culvert are collapsing and the former tip has been fenced off to prevent anyone walking on it.

Back in December, Silsden Parish Council warned its City Hall counterparts that unless action was taken to solve the problem it would take legal action.

Now the parish council is to apply to the Queen's Bench Division of the Royal Courts of Justice in London for leave to apply for a judicial review.

Coun Chris Atkinson, who has been at the forefront of the battle to repair the culvert, said he was delighted with his colleagues' decision.

A spokesman for the Royal Courts of Justice said a judge sitting in private would decide whether the parish council could go ahead with its call for a judicial review.

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