A HUGE chunk of moorland abve Meltham is to be fenced off.
But walkers will still be able to access common areas of the land.
The new fence will be installed to keep sheep from damaging delicate moorland.
Meltham Shooting Club has applied for permission to install nearly 2 ½km of fencing on land it manages at the Wessenden Valley.
The new boundary will enclose more than 300 hectares of land, including 78 hectares of common land, where members of the public have the right to roam.
The plan is being implemented to keep sheep off the land – including West Nab Moss, Scope Moss, Deer Hill Moss and Horseley Head Moss – for at least 10 years.
It is hoped it will allow the regeneration of bilberry, heather and peat.
Club secretary William Holden said the fence was being installed at the insistence of Natural England, the government’s nature conservation agency.
He said: “This is part of a long-term plan to rehabilitate the moorland after overgrazing and the serious moor fires of 1975.
“There are large areas of bare peat so we’ve been doing work of our own to try and regenerate the land.
“But Natural England have come up with this conservation plan to speed up the process and make sure the Wessenden side recovers.
“We argued that fencing wasn’t necessary but they insisted on it.”
He added: “Hopefully we’ll start doing some work on re-vegetation in the next couple of months.
“We want to replace acid grass and bare peat with heather and bilberry.
“We want to help improve the habitat for grouse.”
Mr Holden said the fence would be standard sheep fencing and no barbed wire would be added to it.
And he said stiles would be installed to allow ramblers access to the common land part of the moor.
The other part of the moor is managed by Lydgate Rifle and Pistol club and is not open to the public as it is part of their fallout zone.
A formal application, lodged with the Secretary of State or Environment and Rural Affairs, complete with maps, can be viewed at the Marsden Moor office of the National Trust until February 4.
The office is at Old Goods Yard, Station Road, Marsden, HD7 6DH.
Any comments or objections should be directed to the Planning Inspectorate, Room 3, 25b Hawk Wing, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol, BS1 6PN or email; commonlandcasework@pins.gsi.gov.uk
