THE prospect of off-ride motorcycling becoming legal at a disused quarry looks increasingly remote after the site was bought by a waste processing firm.

The controversial Flappit site near Cullingworth will be used for inert landfill by Associated Waste Management but motorcycle campaigners still hold out a hope that the company might yet grant riders renewed access.

Despite a police warning last month that people using the Cullingworth site for biking would face prosecution, Keighley resident Amanda Bower believes bikers could be enabled to enjoy the site safely.

However, Cllr Simon Cooke (Con, Bingley Rural) has voiced safety concerns.

"We are now looking at a situation where there will be work at the quarry and my opinion is that heavy machinery and motorbikes won't mix," said Cllr Cooke.

"However we should try to find a permanent way for serious people to enjoy their hobby.

"The Council and police have done their best, but as AWM owns the land it's down to them to secure it and keep bikes off it they want to."

The Flappit was used unofficially by bikers and off-road riders for many years, but after the death of dad Mark Clifford in a quad bike accident at the site in 2007, Bradford Council has kept it closed.

Mrs Bower said while health and safety were paramount, it might still be possible to create a permitted biking site.

"But if the new owners don't wish the land to be used for off road motorbiking then really that is it, case closed. We will just have to find some other land," she said.

Mrs Bower began a petition to re-open the land for bikers in 2012, arguing that this would help cut the number of illegal riders on the district's roads and said it now has 500 signatures.

She added: "It is an online petition as well as a paper one so signatures are always welcome. This is not a forgotten campaign.

"Motorbiking is a sport and it's healthy for our youngsters to be occupied by things other than drinking copious amounts of alcohol, smoking cannabis and tobacco.

"As an off-road motorbike track The Flappit would be a great asset. It is historically a motorbike track, it has been used for almost fifty years.

"Lottery grants could be applied for and if they are given this would make the site a great place for underprivileged youngsters to enjoy the sport."

Debbie Clifford, whose husband Mark died at the Flappit, said responded that any facility for off road-bikers would need to be privately owned and professionally marshalled in order to be safe.

And she warned riders which still use the Flappit that they are breaking the law.

"I don't want anybody to not have fun, I'm all for people having a great time," she said. "But the Flappit has been a bit of a nightmare for the emergency services in the past.

"It should remain closed to the bikers until and unless a designated, controlled, properly marshalled area is set up."

A spokesman for Associated Waste Management, which has a large base in Valley Road, Shipley, said the firm was not yet in a position to comment.