An MP has thrown his weight behind a campaign to protect land at Burley-in-Wharfedale which has been taken out of the green belt.

And Shipley MP Philip Davies is backing calls for a change in the law to ensure that green belt land is protected forever.

Mr Davies has given his "wholehearted support" to residents of Endor Crescent who are appalled that land behind their street has been allocated for long-term development by the Government Inspector in his report into Bradford Council's Unitary Development Plan.

The decision has shocked local people who say the land lies in a area which separates Menston from Burley, and which was first defined as interim green belt more than 40 years ago, and formally approved as such in 1988.

Residents were horrified when the land, which could take between 35 and 40 houses, was identified in 2004 as a site for possible future development after 2014.

One of them, Ron Sweeney, argued that there was no reason to take the land out of the green belt, and he stressed that it served a valuable function in separating Menston from Burley.

He said: "It looks as though the inspector is turning previous decisions by the Department of the Environment on their heads. He has completely gone against what the previous inspector said."

Now Mr Davies has taken up the campaign on their behalf and has written to John Prescott complaining about the decision which local people say flew in the face of their wishes and the wishes of Bradford Council.

And he is sponsoring a private members bill being put forward by fellow Conservative MP Mark Prisk, which says that once land is in the green belt it should never be removed.

"Basically it is to keep land designated as green belt in the green belt forever," he said.

Mr Davies has also put down an early day motion in Parliament calling for central government to be removed from the local planning process.

He said the government overturned a large number of council decisions at appeal, and he stressed: "I think that planning should be totally and utterly a local issue."

He said that if central government had not been involved in the planning process the problem facing Endor Crescent residents would never have arisen.

But even though the decision over Endor Crescent had been made he does not believe the situation is hopeless - because although Bradford Council cannot object to the principle of house being built on the site it can still object to individual applications if and when they arose.

"The next time they do a unitary development plan the land could be put back in the green belt," he said. "As long as it is not built on there is a chance that at some stage in the future it can be re-classified.

"You could say it is the battle that has been lost and not the war."

Mr Sweeney said: "Whilst Endor Crescent residents recognise the land in question may seem a minor issue it in fact calls into question the whole issue of democracy.

"We are aware of John Prescott's drive for extra housing to projected needs and the consequent 'freeing' of green belt land. We are however dismayed that such arbitrary methods are being used and the over-ruling of council and residents well founded objections which have been ignored.