Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has been asked to decide whether a public inquiry should be held into plans for a £3 million shopping centre in one of the most popular tourist destinations in Britain.

Bradford Council has referred the controversial plans for a retail centre on part of a private car park in Rawden Road, Haworth, to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Residents are being invited to send comments to the Government office for Yorkshire and Humberside.

Haworth Combined Residents' Action Group is objecting to the scheme, given outline approval by Bradford Council in September.

It is campaigning to set up a parish council centred on Haworth and wants Haworth First School, which is facing the axe under City Hall's education shake-up, to become a heritage centre and base for the new council.

And members claim a new shopping complex, near the famous Main Street and Bronte Parsonage Museum, would spoil the historic setting.

Cliff Simmonds, secretary of HCRAG, said: "A public inquiry may be the quickest way to settle the argument, then we can get on and work for the future of our village."

He said the group had written to the Government office presenting the case for the scheme to be heard at a public inquiry.

There were a number of reasons why the project should be overturned, he said, including the prospect of increased traffic in Rawden Road, where there is access to Hartington Middle School which is to become a junior school under the education shake-up.

He added: "The junction of Rawden Road and Mytholmes Lane will become a bottleneck at the busy early morning peak hour and less severely in the afternoon period.

"There is also the higher risk of accidents coming from an increased number of goods vehicles."

He said the development would also detract from the historic and cultural image of Haworth.

A Yorkshire and the Humber government office spokesman said Bradford Council had decided that the application was one that should be referred to the Secretary of State.

He would decide whether there should be a public inquiry or if it should return to the Council for its own decision.

"The planning application is now being assessed against national guidelines for calling-in planning applications to see whether or not intervention is warranted," he said.

A spokesman for Bradford Council said the application had been referred to the Government office because of its location in a particularly sensitive location.

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