The suggestion by campaigners in Cleckheaton that a proposed housing development on Greenfield land should instead be built on a nearby urban site is exactly the kind of proposal our long-running Save Our Green Spaces campaign is looking for.

Instead, it seems developers will erect 51 houses on urban green space in the town of New Lane.

Protestors set up the Cleckheaton Action Group when the plans to develop this site were revealed, and they are determined to hang on to what they say is the last piece of urban green space in the town.

And they have pointed out that there is an existing brown field site which already has planning permission for more than 200 homes just three-quarters of a mile away off Westgate.

The suggestion is one that we would fully support; the reason we set up the Save Our Green Spaces campaign was to try and pressure local authorities and developers to make more use of the vast swathes of derelict and disused brownfield land in the district for housing rather than cutting swathes into our precious green spaces.

Of course, land in the green belt or in open countryside is more attractive to house developers - such locations can command high property values and are suitable for executive homes for those with very deep pockets or strong spending power

But there is a very strong argument for not allowing this new plan to go-ahead on a green field site when there is a good alternative so close, and let us hope that Kirklees Council rejects this scheme and points the developers towards a perfectly good brownfield site.