PROTESTERS fear a beautiful stretch of countryside will be “destroyed” by developers.

Locals have joined together to fight against controversial plans for a £200m data centre off Lindley Moor Road.

The 46-acre premises could be built at the junction of Lindley Moor Road and Crosland Road and would be one of the first of its kind in the UK.

Shirley Horton, of Laund Road, said: “Lindley Moor is so beautiful – it’s just like the Yorkshire Dales.

“There is so much wildlife like birds and bats which I’ve seen while walking my dogs.

“But we’ve seen the plans and they cover almost all of the fields.

“It’s going to be totally destroyed.”

Nursery nurse Shirley and other concerned residents have handed out petitions against the planning application at most Lindley shops, doctors’ surgeries and churches.

Mother-of-five Shirley believes something must be done to stop the building work going ahead.

The 56-year-old said: “A lot of people walk in the fields and the children play football there.

“It would be destroyed for so many people and there won’t be any green space left here at all.

“It’s going to cause a real problem with traffic on Lindley Moor Road too which is already very busy. It’s not safe.”

Those supporting the scheme say the development will create some 150 jobs, with around 500 people employed to construct the buildings.

The data centre will be used to house computer systems and store duplicates of important data in case the original information is lost.

Advocates say it will make Huddersfield a magnet for leading companies to base their computer operations.

Stephen Holman, director of development company Sterling Scotfield, said the development would be “relatively low density” with “fairly robust” landscaping.

The units would be built to compliment the existing contours of the land and should not be visible from nearby housing.

Lindley councillor Christine Stanfield said she was against any sort of development on the moor.

She said: “I’m frantically trying to find another part of Huddersfield or Kirklees for the site.

“It’s going to provide 150 jobs which is important and we really need at this time and I’m for anything that brings jobs to the area.

“But that bit of land is clearly important to people and I can only support those who have lived here longer than I have.”