Residents are battling to stop a grassed-over street being reopened to traffic.

Householders in the Mill Hey area of Haworth are being supported by ward councillor Rebecca Poulsen in their campaign to stop vehicles returning to Fife Street.

They are objecting to a proposal by the Department for Transport to reopen the top half of the street to provide access to planned housing.

Fife Street is one of several streets in the neighbourhood of densely-packed terraced houses whose road surfaces were grassed over in the 1980s to provide much-needed green space for residents.

A planning application was approved by Bradford Council in January to build two new houses on the last remaining vacant site on the street, which was previously used for pigeon keeping and vegetable growing.

Approval was subject to a new access being formed, with vehicles travelling along the existing Prince Street and Cliffe Street, then turning back on themselves to go down Fife Street.

Cllr Poulsen said that like existing residents she had objected to the original housing proposal, and she was also opposing the reopening of Fife Street to traffic.

She said: “This will become an overdeveloped area by squeezing houses into a small site.

“Residents are not very happy. It’s completely wrong to take a well-used space away from existing residents where there is very little recreational space.

There are some new houses in the neighbourhood and a lot of them have young families. Fife Street is an ideal closed area without traffic, where they can play.

“These streets became grassed areas where children could play out, and people could walk their dogs or put up clothes lines.”

The Department for Transport is carrying out a consultation until may 25 before beginning decision on whether to reopen five Street.