CAMPAIGNERS for the protection of Silsden’s countryside have erected an eye-catching banner in one of the fields under threat.

Local politicians joined residents as the Campaign for the Countryside group unveiled the banner and launched their latest battle plans on land adjoining Brown Bank Lane.

The lane will be crossed by a new road if a planning application from Silsden Development Company receives the go-ahead from Bradford Council.

The ‘enabling road’, starting at busy Bolton Road, is intended to provide access to fields in the Hawber Cote area that had been earmarked for hundreds of new houses.

The new road would cross several other fields on its way to Hawber Cote, an action which Campaign for the Countryside fears will badly affect wildlife and public footpaths.

The group claims that fields, trees and hedgerows affected by the proposals stretch from Banklands Lane, through Hawber Cote and the borders of Swartha, and across Brown Bank Lane to Bolton Road. Several popular public footpaths cross the land.

Caroline Whitaker, one of the leading lights of the Campaign for the Countryside’s Save Our Fields campaign, said the banner could be clearly seen from the main road between Silsden and Ilkley.

She said: “It offers a powerful message about the strength of local feeling against this proposed development. This is just the start of another lively phase of our activities.

“Planners, councillors and developers will be left in no doubt as to how much this stretch of countryside means to the people of Silsden.”

The unveiling of the banner was attended by Keighley MP John Grogan and Silsden town councillors Darren Edwards, David Loud and Mark Wogden.

Mr Grogan said: “The momentum behind the campaign to protect Silsden from over-development is growing.”

No date has yet been announced for the plan to be formally considered by Bradford Council.

In its land use strategy for the district, the council has earmarked Silsden for 1,200 new homes over the next few years. Several hundred have either been built or are in the planning stages at other sites around the town.

The Campaign for the Countryside members have set up their own Facebook page.

They are collecting data on wildlife which makes its habitat in the area, as well as conducting research on the impact that further large-scale residential development would have on the town’s infrastructure and roads.

The group is also making plans for a special event emphasising the importance of preserving the natural environment for the children of the future.