Residents are calling for a halt to development at the rear of their homes after they have been hit by flooding and landslips.

They fear a high retaining wall, behind which 40 homes are to be built, will not be strong enough to hold the land back behind Cherry Tree Rise, Keighley.

Already some homeowners have suffered flooding into gardens and property and some slippage of land.

Anne Warburton, one of 60 residents who are calling on Bradford Council to stop the development by Skipton Properties, said: "I'm really frightened something dreadful will happen - that the land will slip and crash down on our houses.

"Imagine the weight on top of that wall when all those houses are built. We're not against houses being built there but we are opposed to the way the land is being built up.

"Hundreds of tons of soil and stone have been dumped at the back on what was a sloping site."

Her garage, garden and pond have already been flooded by water pouring through the wall and neighbours, whose homes back on to the land which has several springs, have experienced similar incidents.

Planning permission for the site stretches back to 1993, but recently the developer submitted a revised scheme involving the construction of different kinds of houses.

Neighbour Jim Kennedy, who blames planning officers for not acting quickly and stopping the work, said: "A revised plan for the site was put in by the developer which I think would have been turned down originally."

A spokesman for Bradford Council confirmed that a revised plan had been submitted and officers were monitoring the work on the site.

Skipton Properties said officials did not wish to comment.

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