Campaigners against a waste tip plan are calling for a referendum.

Denholme Town Council has backed the idea of a poll to gauge the strength of feeling about moves to dump millions of tonnes of household rubbish at Buck Park Quarry.

The scheme, put forward by Humberside-based company Wastewise, has sparked a massive outcry in the village.

Denholme Residents' Action Group was formed to fight the plans for the site on Whalley Lane. Campaigners fear it could increase pollution, nuisance and traffic.

The town council has unanimously agreed to ask Bradford Council to hold a vote, asking all villagers whether they are for or against the landfill proposal. Action group spokesman Gerard Rolfe said the referendum idea had come from a television documentary.

"There was a Channel 4 programme in which a parish council in Wakefield had a successful referendum against plans to privatise a hospital," he said.

Campaigners have also been collecting hundreds of signatures on a petition and staged a protest march through the village last month. They are suggesting that the best time to hold the ballot would be on May 6, to tie in with local elections.

"It seems to make sense to have it that day when there will already be a returning officer there and it won't be wasting any extra time," said Mr Rolfe. "It's a pretty big issue in the village and people are very aware of it because of the mail drops we've done.

"We're just trying to look at every way of tackling it. The more we turn things over the less we like it, to be honest. A referendum would certainly give us more strength to our armoury."

A decision on the Wastewise application is likely to be made at Bradford Council's Shipley area planning sub-committee meeting on May 10.

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