The fight to save Butterley Spillway has been re-ignited.

Campaigning group Save Butterley Spillway (SBS) has revealed that one of it's supporters has submitted a legal challenge to the decision to let Yorkshire Water carry out controversial renovation work on the Grade II Marsden Moor structure which was approved in March.

Retired chartered civil engineer Colin Anderson, who spoke at the inquiry and had created an alternative plan to that of Yorkshire Water, has filed a claim in the High Court to quash the decision made at an eight day inquiry by independent planning inspector Jennifer Vyse, who he believes treated him unfairly during the process.

In it, Richard Harwood QC, acting for Mr Anderson, said that 'substantial prejudice' had been caused to Mr Anderson's case and that the appeal decisions were taken 'unlawfully' after he was left out of several stages of the inquiry and was not allowed to present alternative solutions to that proposed by Yorkshire Water.

He said the latter could have affected Ms Vyse's final decision following a visit to the site.

Ms Vyse approved Yorkshire Water's scheme, which includes replacing the historical stone spillway with reinforced concrete, thus removing some of its iconic features, such as the curved stepped part called the cascade.

The water company had applied to carry out the scheme to comply with legal requirements to prevent flooding but SBS had challenged the plan for three years on the basis that another way could be found to carry out the work without damaging its appearance.

The campaign to save the spillway, which was built between 1891 and 1906 by engineers Thomas and Charles Hawksley, had attracted the support of several influential people including poet Simon Armitage and Tory Colne Valley candidate, Jason McCartney.

Diane Ellis, of SBS, revealed the news on Save Butterley Spillway’s Facebook page.

She said: “If the High Court claim is successful and the decision is quashed, a second public planning inquiry will take place.

"We firmly believe that a better solution exists and that this was not properly explored at the first inquiry due to basic unfairness in the procedure; that will not happen the second time round."

But due to the legal costs that will be involved, SBS has asked for donations to enable Mr Anderson to fight his corner.

Diane, added: "We are going to need a lot of financial support from the community going forwards. "We have got to this point already with no outside financial help, despite our campaign running for over three years.

"We know that Butterley and the Wessenden Valley is such a special place for so many people and we know the breadth and depth of support we have in fighting to protect its unique heritage.

"We will be launching our campaign very shortly, so anyone wishing to help can do so by contacting us online via Facebook, Twitter or through our website.

"We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support."

During the heated inquiry, Kirklees Council dramatically dropped their objections due to the strength of evidence given by Yorkshire Water.