Enforcement action is being taken against a developer following the flouting of planning conditions at a controversial Long Lee housing site.

Skipton Properties has been given 28 days by Bradford Council to comply with the notice, relating to the Birch Tree Gardens plot, or face prosecution.

The move marks another chapter in a long running wrangle over the site, where local residents fearing for their safety have battled against housing plans.

Planning permission was granted last October for 39 homes, subject to stringent conditions.

The developer was told that no building work should be carried out until the sloping site had been stepped and levelled, and drainage problems sorted out.

Councillor Chris Greaves, chairman of Keighley Area Planning Panel, said yesterday: "The future safety of the site and of local residents is paramount, and this is why the council has taken formal enforcement action.

"We need to allay public fears and make sure the developer adheres to existing permission from the council."

Cllr Anne Hawkesworth, executive member for the environment, said: "It is essential that developers stick to the conditions that are applied to planning consents.

"This action shows that the council is not happy to just sit back and let this sort of thing happen."

But residents who have fought for two years against the housing scheme are angry and sceptical.

They say Skipton Properties has constantly ignored planning conditions at the site and that the council has been ineffective in dealing with the situation.

One campaigner, who did not want to be named, told us: "We warned in 1999 that the land was slipping - we could see it moving - and we feared there could be a disaster.

"A full geological survey was supposed to be carried out before any construction took place.

"To say the local authority has been inept would be an understatement.

"We warned councillors last October when planning permission was granted that the conditions would not be met, and we are not holding out too much hope over the enforcement action."

No one from Skipton Properties was available for comment as the Keighley News went to press.