The fight to stop Bradford City from building a flagship soccer academy on the Green Belt has escalated.

Leeds Councillors have decided to oppose a planning application from the Bantams for the £3 million development.

The application is expected to be heard by Bradford Council next month, and the club hopes to start work as soon as possible.

And, in a fresh twist today, residents who are trying to stop the scheme, say they believe the land, which is next to a designated site of local importance for nature conservation, was the scene of a civil war battle.

They are researching the history of the site and have contacted English Heritage, asking for support.

The Bantams plans could also hit a fresh hurdle because Bradford Council's Environment Scrutiny Committee has decided to call in a decision by last week's executive committee to lease the necessary land to the club.

Today Joan Brown, of Apperley Bridge Residents' Association, which has 300 members, stressed residents were not against the academy which will help build for the future and produce home-grown talents.

But she said they believed it would be in the wrong place and would cause 'horrendous' traffic problems.

The academy would put Bradford City on a line with its 19 fellow Premiership clubs, however.

The club wants to build a sports hall, pitches and a cricket square at Elm Tree Farm on the Harrogate Road, Apperley Lane border of the River Aire. City has used the Rawdon Meadows pitches on the opposite side of Harrogate Road for training for 25 years.

And it has pledged that it would not create further traffic problems and would be a quality development.

But Bradford Council's Liberal Democrat Group is also opposed to the planning application because members say it is in the wrong place.

Mrs Brown said: "It is fundamentally wrong that the development should be here and Leeds Council agrees."

She said people believed it could have been the site of a famous battle which had been re-enacted on the land a number of years ago by a history group.

Leeds Council's Development Control Panel (West) voted against the scheme after being told by officers that the building would be large and visible from the Leeds area.

They said it would obscure views of the open countryside towards the Cragg Wood conservation area.

Their views will be sent to Bradford Area Planning Panel when it considers the application from the club.

A final decision will have to be made by John Prescott, Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions, however because the site is in the green belt.

Today City's managing director Shaun Harvey said he wanted to hold a meeting with all interested parties to explain the proposals, before Bradford's Planning Panel considered the application.

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