CAMPAIGNERS battling plans to build more than 400 homes on green space say they are consulting with their lawyers over the next move in their fight.

A proposal for between 420 and 440 homes in Sty Lane, Micklethwaite, Bingley, was rubber-stamped after the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, agreed with Bradford Council’s granting of outline planning permission.

The scheme would involve the removal of a traffic swing bridge and its replacement with a vehicle and pedestrian swing bridge over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The permission, announced last month, has 40 conditions attached and the reasons behind it are outlined in a 146-page document by the Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government.

Now, members of Greenhill Action Group (GAG), whose members have spent £250,000 on their nine-year legal fight, say they are reviewing the document with their legal team, to consider their next move in the appeal process. The latest round of GAG’s appeal cost them £100,000 in legal fees and advice from planning and transport consultants.

Mick Meares, GAG chairman, said: “It is still under legal review.

“We are still in the process of studying the document paper and will see where we will go from there. We are still reviewing the decision that was made.

“We will hopefully have a legal response to it later this week.”

An eight-day public inquiry was heard last October and presided over by planning inspector George Baird, whose report has been supported by the DCLG.

While full permission is granted for the replacement of the swing bridge, which will be essential to allow reliable access for emergency vehicles, only outline permission has been granted for those houses to be served by the bridge.

No work can begin on that major section of the development until the bridge has been built, although that does not stop complete plans and work progressing on 22 homes off Oakwood Drive. Bradford Council initially opposed the development because of concerns over emergency access should the swing bridge break down, but later approved the plans when the local authority was satisfied that those concerns had been addressed.

A spokesman for developer Redrow said: “It’s early days following the release of the decision and we have no further update at the moment.”

No representative from developer Bellway was available for comment.