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 counterpart 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.

"It's about time," he told the Herald.

"This saga has been going on for five years and it's time something was done about it before the culvert collapses completely.

"We have to stand up and be counted."

A document detailing all correspondence between the parish council and City Hall has already been drawn up to show how long the debate has been continuing.

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.

If this is given then a hearing would take place, presided over by three judges, to decide which party was at fault.

Bradford Council has always maintained that it was in the process of looking for cash to carry out the work which is expected to cost thousands of pounds.

A Bradford Council legal spokesman said: "Silsden Parish Council contacted us earlier this week indicating it would be seeking a judicial review on the issue of Bradley Green culvert and we are now waiting for official notification."

Bradley Green was handed over to Bradford Council in 1974 following the re-organisation of local government.

It originally belonged to Silsden Urban District Council which bought the land from Baron Hothfield in 1921 for the price of £220.

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