A campaign to save Longwood Edge Cafe has been launched.
Around 25 customers came together at an emergency meeting at the quirky venue on Longwood Edge Road, which Kirklees Council wants to close for good on April 6 due to it not having the correct planning permissions.
And to save it, the group wants to reinforce the Longwood Edge Road cafe as a major hub for local activities and as a potential linking centre for a new Longwood heritage site.
The meeting was arranged after the Examiner reported the battle of the cafe’s owner, John Whitworth, to save it. He said he had been serving teas and snacks there for 18 years without any previous problem with the council.
It was called by one resident, Roberta Walker, who helped to choose the campaign’s new name as Friends of the Edge.
She said: “The cafe has become a hub for many people, including dog walkers, ramblers, runners, cyclists and the number of people in attendance proved its popularity.
“While we have all agreed that there is no way to prevent it shutting on April 6, we believe we may have come up with a way to save it by emphasising its community importance and dealing with the areas of planning in which John has gone wrong.
“Creating a heritage trail, that would link local historical places such as Longwood ampitheatre, the Nab End Tower and Quarmby stocks could also help strengthen our case to keep it open.”
Two West Yorkshire Police PCSOs also attended the meeting, to highlight the positive impact the cafe has had on crime on the edge top.
One, Bill Legge, said: “Over the last few years we have stopped getting complaints about incidents taking place on land nearby, which is a different to earlier on when quite a few crimes were reported here.
“It’s a good community meeting point and I just don’t personally know why the council would want to close it.”
But Golcar councillor Andrew Marchington, who was also present at the meeting, said that saving the cafe would be a complicated process.
He said: “The planning applications were refused because it didn’t meet highways requirements and is in an isolated area.
“According to the local development plan, which is currently being reviewed, cafes can’t be opened in such locations.
“To try change this, I suggested the group should put a submission into the council to demonstrate that the cafe is an important community hub that holds events, is important as a local employer and has a positive effect on crime in the area.
“This is the only way to create a good argument to re-open it.
“However, it will be difficult because if it was allowed to open it could pave the way to more developments being opened in rural areas, which could have a negative impact.”
Campaigners have also started a Save the Edge petition to Kirklees Council on the website 38 Degrees, which has so far received over 345 signatures.
To view it, go to 38degrees.org.uk.
To receive updates on the campaign, search Friends of the Edge on Facebook.
