PLANS to reopen an old railway route for walkers, cyclists and horseriders will be put to a public meeting.

Objectors and supporters will get the chance to speak about the Fenay Greenway on December 9.

It follows a mixed response to proposals for a three-mile traffic-free route on the old railway route between Kirkheaton and Kirkburton.

Some people living near the route fear Kirklees Council would use compulsory purchase orders to acquire their land and include it in the greenway scheme.

However, the council say these fears are unfounded.

Other residents living near the route are in favour of the scheme and local businesses are welcoming the chance for their employees to walk or cycle to work.

The public meeting, at Burton Village Hall at 7pm, will be a chance for people to raise their concerns before the final decision is made by the Kirklees Council Cabinet next month .

Fenay Greenway Society chairman Mike Greetham said: "Changing the way we travel now will improve our lives in the future.

"Clearer roads, cleaner air and a healthier environment, improved personal well-being and a better quality of life.

"The Fenay Greenway can make a local contribution to achieving all this."

The greenway was initially pencilled in to a planning blueprint for Kirklees - the Kirklees Unitary Development Plan - in 1993.

However, the idea was not developed until 2001, when Kirklees Council set up the Fenay Greenway Society to promote the plan and study its feasibility.

Since then, the scheme has been allocated funding from the 2004-5 Local Transport Plan.

The society has also carried out a public consultation, which involved delivering 4,000 leaflets to homes near to the proposed route.