Opponents of a planned new hockey pitch and club house approved for a site at a Keighley secondary school hope to take their continued objections to the Government.

Clare Abberton, speaking on behalf of people living near Holy Family Catholic School, addressed the latest full meeting of Keighley Town Council.

She asked why Airedale Hockey Club wants another pitch for its activities at Holy Family when it already has one provided at Beckfoot Oakbank School.

She argued the only reason the club wants a pitch at Holy Family is because the school has also offered to include a clubhouse as part of the development.

“This is going to be a licensed building,” Miss Abberton noted.

“And the pitch won’t benefit students at the school because Holy Family doesn’t play hockey and never has done.”

Speaking last month during the meeting in Keighley Civic Centre, she asked the town council for help with contacting the relevant Government Secretary of State.

Planning committee vice chairman Cllr Samuel Fletcher said he sympathised with the views of her and her neighbours and recommended they write to the Secretary of State for Sport.

Commenting after the council meeting, Miss Abberton said it would not be “ideal” to have a licensed clubhouse on school premises.

And she said she and her neighbours still have unresolved concerns about the impact the development will have on issues such as drainage and traffic.

“If we can appeal the council decision we will do,” she added.

Both Airedale Hockey Club and Holy Family Catholic School were approached for comment, but neither had responded.

The plans for the new synthetic turf hockey pitch, along with a club house and floodlights, were passed by Bradford Council’s Keighley and Shipley Area Committee earlier this year.

The application – which is a partnership between the school and Airedale Hockey Club – had attracted a large amount of objections from people living in and around Spring Gardens Lane.

Residents said they feared the extra use of the site by sports clubs would create more noise, and that light from floodlights would spill over into neighbouring streets.

The school’s application to build the hockey pitch, club house and floodlights went before Bradford Council’s Keighley and Shipley Area Committee on February 27 for the third time, having previously been deferred twice before.

Holy Family had first submitted plans for the sports facilities last year.

Recommending the application should be passed, Bradford Council’s planning officer report stated: “The impacts of the proposal for local visual amenity, residential amenity and highway safety are not significant, and are outweighed by benefits for sport and education.”