A WRANGLE over a popular patch of meadowland appears to be over after it was bought by Kirklees Council.

Denby Delf, also known locally as Mosley’s Roughs, has been at the heart of an ownership row for more than five years.

The rural plot between Upper Denby and High Flatts was owned by a conservation charity called the Meadowlands Trust but residents from the surrounding villages had been allowed to manage it.

But it was returned to government hands after it was revealed charity boss Robert Hanna had been embezzling money from the charity for his own personal use.

He was convicted of fraud at Sheffield Crown Court and jailed.

In 2007 a 100-strong crowd protested about a plan for conservation group the Garganey Trust to sign the lease on the land.

The group called for Kirklees Council to take over the land but were told the council’s policy would not allow it.

In 2008, Denby Dale Tory, Clr Jim Dodds complained that Garganey Trust had backed out of a deal to work with local nature lovers and were ignoring his emails and phone calls.

Now, more than four years on, Kirklees Council has finally agreed to take on the lease after Barnsley based Garganey Trust failed to adequately manage the site.

It is thought the cost of terminating Garganey Trust’s lease will be between £500 and £1,000 but the total fee could rocket to more than £6,000 if they decide to contest it.

The site, which is known to be home to a colony of scarce Green Hairstreak butterflies and rare Adders Tongue Fern, will be monitored by Kirklees Council’s countryside officers and there are hopes to turn it in to an official nature reserve.

Denby Dale Parish Council member for Clayton West, John Cook, who was involved with the campaign for community management when he was a Kirklees Councillor, said he was delighted about the development.

He said: “It’s five years since we had the meeting where folk voted for the community to take it on and look after it.

“There’s been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing over the years but nothing’s been done with it.

“I’m pleased we can move forward and get a community group together to take over running it.

“It’s been such a long time that people probably thought it wasn’t going to happen but I know there’s a lot of interest locally.”

A Kirklees Council spokeswoman confirmed they would allow local nature lovers to be involved.

She said: “Once Kirklees is responsible for the land we would want to involve all the local community.

“We would want to get them involved in running activities and manage the site properly for conservation and for informal recreation purposes.

“We would be happy working in partnership with others in order to achieve this.

“In particular we would want to negotiate with Natural England, the Government nature conservation agency, over declaring Denby Delf a Local Nature Reserve under the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act”.