Home-owners could be forced to rip up thousands of pounds worth of gardens after falling foul of planning laws.

Six families who bought plots in a farmer's field to extend their gardens have been told by planning officers they can only legally "graze goats, horses or cultivate vegetables". The householders, of Soureby Cross Way, East Bierley, claim they were unaware they needed planning permission to create gardens when they bought plots of the Green Belt agricultural land from beef farmer and former councillor Robert Light.

And they claim neither Mr Light - who is hoping to become the next Conservative to fight the Shipley constituency in the next general election - or their solicitors who brokered the deals advised them of the rules.

Mother-of-three Carol Cockroft said: "It seems ridiculous that we might have to use our gardens as a farm. We are shocked about what's happened and we feel victimised."

The families, who moved into their new detached homes four years ago, were sent a letter from brothers and former partners Robert and Malcolm Light in January 1996 asking if they would like to buy a piece of their farmland adjoining their gardens.

The letter said: "Do you find your garden too small?

"Would you like more space for your children or grandchildren to be able to play or would you like more room for yourself?"

Within months they had each paid between £2,000 and £4,000 for the plots and hired solicitors to handle the deals.

Now the gardens boast flower beds, rockeries, patios and two metre fences - which may have to be pulled out.

Kirklees Council has demanded the six families apply for permission if they want to keep the gardens - and in the meantime they should let the grass return to its natural height.

At least 16 other householders in nearby Hunsworth Lane and Bradford Road have bought land from the Lights but have not yet been approached by Kirklees.

Schoolteacher Alasdair MacLarty, of Soureby Cross Way, said he bought his patch of land for his four-year-old daughter Frances.

He said: "I'm prepared to believe the land was bought and sold in good faith.

"But if the letter had said 'Would you like to buy some land which you can't cultivate and you can't manicure the lawn' then the answer would have been no.

"We haven't just stuck up a fence. We thought we'd done it properly.

"We're the innocent parties in a massive bureaucratic tangle."

Two firms of solicitors representing some of the families involved refused to comment.

But Robert Light, 35, of Moorhouse Lane, Birkenshaw, denied he had sold the land as gardens.

The former Kirklees councillor for Birstall and Birkenshaw ward said: "I sold it in good faith as agricultural land, it's not up to me what they do with it.

"I was in partnership with my brother when it was sold, I have a different business now."

A spokesman for Kirklees Council said the decision about the future of the gardens would be decided by planning officers or a planning committee in the next few months.

If unsuccessful the residents could appeal to the Government's Planning Inspectorate.

He said: "If they lose they could still use the land to graze a goat or horse or cultivate a vegetable patch.

"Their solicitors should have made them aware of procedures governing Green Belt land."

He added other householders who had bought land from the Lights may also be investigated.

Nurse Ann Crossland, 51, who bought a plot to extend her garden in Hunsworth Lane three years ago, said she was shocked by the news.

She said: "We bought the land at building land prices not agricultural land prices but we knew we couldn't build on it.

Her neighbour Philip Hodgson, 73, a member of the East Bierley Preservation Society said he had bought the land because he feared the field behind his home may be developed.

He said: "I paid £1,200 and we use it for bowls and barbecues. We bought it because there was speculation the field was going to be sold."

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