A crumbling culvert at Silsden poses a similar threat to life as did a bridge which collapsed in Portugal killing more than 60 people, it has been claimed.

It comes from Silsden parish councillors who say there are "parallels" between the two issues.

Now they have formally written to Keighley MP Ann Cryer, Bradford Council leader Cllr Margaret Eaton and ward councillors to register their concerns.

Earlier this month, the 116-year-old Entre-os Rios bridge, over the Douro River, in northern Portugal collapsed, plunging a tour bus and two cars 150ft into the fast flowing river.

Officials later confirmed the possibility of a collapse had been confirmed last December after an inspection by experts. In the wake of the tragedy an number of officials have resigned.

For a number of years, Silsden parish councillors have raised fears about the state of the culvert at Bradley Green, claiming the tunnel was a "potential timebomb".

Last summer the council said that in the worst scenario there would be flooding. Cllr Chris Atkinson told a meeting: "If that culvert goes and someone is on top, that someone will be dead."

After accusing Bradford Council of dragging its feet over carrying out repair work, the parish council called for a judicial review.

The council said it was going to commission a report on the culvert to investigate the feasibility of conducting a full study.

This week in a letter to the editor of the Keighley News, parish council clerk Joanne Conway writes:

"Members of Silsden Parish Council were extremely concerned to note the collapse of the bridge over a river in Portugal with the loss of over 70 lives which, it later transpired, local councillors had been pressing for many years to have urgent repairs made to.

Silsden's councillors were sadly only too conscious of the parallels between this occurrence and that of Bradley Green, in Silsden.

Silsden Parish Council has been pestering Bradford Council for over five years now to repair the culvert running under Bradley Green.

Must the people of Silsden wait until Bradley Green collapses and lives are lost before Bradford Council does anything? Silsden Parish Council sincerely hopes not."

In a statement, Bradford Council says: "We note the parish council's comments but we do not believe that the two sets of circumstances are comparable. Bradley Green has been fenced off and is closed to the public."