Campaigners in Ben Rhydding are celebrating winning 'round one' of a fight to save their only remaining public house from becoming a housing development.

Ilkley Planning Office received more than 900 letters of objection over Antler Homes' plans to turn the Wheatley Hotel site, in Wheatley Lane, into a 22-home housing complex.

Now those proposals have been turned down by planning officers, using delegated powers, on five separate grounds.

Those included, crucially for supporters of the Save Us Pub (SUP) campaign group, the claim that it would lead to the loss of a community facility in Ben Rhydding.

Ilkley Town Hall planning officer Martyn Burke said that point had been included due to the unprecedented public response.

He said: "In including that factor we were very much led by the strength of feeling shown by the public. I would estimate we have had 900 letters about this, which is record breaking in my experience, and it may well be more.

"We had to abandon processing them at 400 to concentrate on our other plans, but we will get through them all eventually!

"The developers, of course, have the right to appeal, which they are very likely to exercise, to the planning inspectorate for a public inquiry. They could also re-submit the application, trying to address some of the other issues we've raised by reducing the overall scale of the development, for example."

Planners were also unhappy about the traffic implications of the scheme, particularly with regard to poor visibility at the junction with Wheatley Lane which new residents would have to use.

Other contentious issues included privacy, with planning officers concerned at the height of some of the proposed buildings and the inclusion of balconies, and the effect of road building on trees.

Mr Burke said: "Balconies on some properties would have allowed views over into the private gardens of houses in Brighton Road.

"We were also concerned that some of the work to create access roads would have involved digging under the roots of protected trees."

The final reason for refusal was that the scale and design of the whole plan, which would include converting the Wheatley into a residential block with a large extension, was out of character with the area.

Chairman of the Keighley Area Planning Panel, district councillor Chris Greaves (Con, Rombalds), said he was delighted with the decision.

He said: "This was a delegated decision but I have