A row is brewing over a development after it emerged contractors illegally dug into a burial ground.

Ham Construction should have applied for a licence to move graves beneath Eastbrook Hall. The discovery that the work was being done without a licence came after workmen unearthed a coffin containing the remains of a little girl, followed a few days later by the remains of man.

The company should have applied to the Government's Department of Constitutional affairs for a licence to work on the land containing the remains, under the Disused Burial Ground Act of 1981. The process would have also meant them posting a public notice alerting any relatives of the people buried at the site.

Now the company is expected to make a late application for a licence to work on an area which would be redeveloped as a car park. In the meantime, workers are allowed to clear the area, but not dig in it.

The company's managing director Nigel Ham said: "The redevelopment is continuing unless otherwise directed by the coroner."

But Bradford North MP Terry Rooney said he was contacting the coroner about his "deep concern" about the failure to apply for a licence which would have entailed a newspaper announcement giving people the chance to respond.

Bradford Council's senior solicitor Jonathan Balsham confirmed Ham Construction had failed to apply for the licence it needed to do building work on a former burial ground.

A spokesman from the Department of Constitutional Affairs said it had received an approach by Ham and the Council about a licence and the procedure had been explained. She said developers could clear the site but not dig it and any developer building on a burial ground area without a licence would be breaking the law.

The Reverend Geoff Reid, of the city centre Touchstone Methodist interfaith centre said: "As a mark of respect to a previous generation there should be a reburial."