Environmental campaigners halted work on a controversial housing scheme by swarming on to a digger - and one even shinned up the vehicle's jib.

The "green" protesters caught workmen by surprise at the Bryant Homes site, off Acacia Drive and Aspen Rise in Sandy Lane, Bradford.

They burst on to the site and confronted the driver of the only digger working at the time.

The protesters, who included self-styled eco-warriors based at the Rye Loaf camp in nearby Bingley, forced it to halt and climbed on the vehicle's caterpillar tracks.

Oliver Robinson, one of the leading objectors against the planned Bingley relief road and who has been living in a tree house at the camp in the path of the proposed route, stuck a placard reading "Bryant Not Welcome In Sandy Lane" on the digger as work ground to a halt for several hours.

It is the latest in a string of high-profile confrontations by protesters using the direct-action tactics of other environmental protests such as those at Newbury and Manchester Airport.

Residents have been angered both by Bryant Homes' scheme for 92 homes on the site and Bradford Council's refusal to block the planning application.

Paul Smith, who lives in nearby Cottingley Road, said most local people were pleased with the action taken on their behalf.

Protesters have also blockaded the site with caravans and confronted workmen with a pantomime cow.

Mr Smith said: "There are one or two people who are uneasy about it but generally I think people are in favour."

Geoff Walker, another objector, said: "We draw the line at any form of criminal damage or anything that might endanger people's safety. But things like this are fine."

The protesters ended their demonstration after about ten hours.

But resident Mike Hallam said the protest would not be the last. Nobody at Bryant Homes was willing to comment today.

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