A THREATENED community orchard will not be given up without a fight, its supporters have vowed.

Friends of Highfields Community Orchard began looking after the site at Wentworth Street over three years ago and it has since been transformed into a valuable community resource.

But the land, which used to be a playground, is owned by Kirklees Council, which wants to sell it.

The council has applied for planning permission to build five houses on the site.

Forty-one local people have sent in objections.

With planning permission at auction it might raise as much as £100,000.

Tom Taylor, chairman of the Friends group, said he was determined to pursue the group’s dream of persuading the council to grant a long lease at a peppercorn rent.

He said: “I can imagine it 10 years from now with large fruit trees and bushes overflowing with apples, plums, pears, currants and berries.

“This is not about the council reneging on a promise. It’s about local people wanting to do one thing with the land and the council wanting to do another.

“We believe that our use of the land is better for the local community – building social capital, trust and relationships.

“It’s better for the conservation area which is very built-up already, for wildlife, better because it encourages families to learn about fruit growing and to encourage children outdoors and to connect with nature and each other.

“So, we never had it to ‘give back’. We were just looking after it and wanting to make good use of it.”

Earlier this month the Examiner reported that 45 council plots and buildings were to be sold off to net Kirklees Council £25m.

But council leader Mehboob Khan said there was no immediate plans to dispose of the Wentworth Street site.

However, orchard supporters are unlikely to have derived much comfort from deputy leader Clr David Sheard’s remarks, that: “The policy cannot be letting every resident have a bit of land next to their house just because they want it. It would cost us a fortune.”

A Kirklees Council spokesman said: “The land which is currently being used by the Friends of Highfields Community Orchard (FHCO) was formerly a playground, held on a lease from the council, for a former private school which was situated on Mountjoy Road and closed in 2008.

“The FHCO orchard group were granted a licence to use the land for a temporary period, but this was on the understanding that they knew it was likely to be used for development in the future, subject to planning permission being granted.”