A council has finally admitted it was wrong to designate a farm track as a ‘byway open to all traffic’ – nine years after a couple challenged the decision.

But Angela and Edward Bradley’s long-running dispute with Kirklees Council is far from over after councillors backed an officer’s report that the track is actually a bridleway.

The couple, of Nether Moor Farm in South Crosland, are now gearing up for what is expected to be a public inquiry into the rights and wrongs of the council’s latest decision, taken by a planning committee on Thursday.

Their rights of way adviser, Andy Dunlop, said the couple had been saying for nine years that the track should never have been classed as a ‘byway open to all traffic.’

Mr Dunlop said the council had so far spent an estimated £50,000 on the case and would be spending many more thousands as the case is now expected to go to public inquiry.

He claimed that a 455-page council report in favour of the track being designated a bridleway contained “fatal flaws” which he said had “misled” councillors.

“This is now going to go to a public inquiry which will cost thousands of pounds,” he said. “The council will now make a (bridleway) order and we will object to it and force a public inquiry.

“We are quite happy to go to public inquiry but disappointed that elected members have been misled by the report.”

Right of Way dispute at Nether Hall Farm, South Crosland, Huddersfield - Farmers Angela and Edward Bradley refuese to allow Kirklees' officials on to their land.

Mr Dunlop claimed the 455-page officer’s report contained misleading evidence about the users of the farm track.

“They have mixed private users and public users,” he added.

The section of the track at the centre of the dispute is currently blocked by a pile of manure, boulders and a caravan.

Mr Dunlop said the public inquiry wouldn’t happen for at least a year.

He added: “If a public inquiry decides it’s a public right of way we will immediately open it up. It’s staying shut for now.”

The dispute came to a head in 2014 when Mr Dunlop blocked the lane with his car. When he refused to move it he was arrested by police for obstruction and spent four hours in a cell, vowing he’d do the same again.