RESIDENTS are angry over plans to convert a former North York Moors National Park hotel into a visitor base for children from Grimsby.

Early plans have been drawn up to convert the empty listed building the Milburn Arms Hotel found at Rosedale Abbey.

The building has been shut for 18 months and its owner businessman David Ross is looking to hand it over to the Havelock Academy boarding school.

Initial talks with the North York Moors National Park to make the place an educational base on the moors for the school have been held.

Councillor Linda Blackburne, of Rosedale Parish Council, said the plan had not been well received in the village.

She said: "There’s a group in the village who are furious and upset and they’re terribly disappointed over this idea.

"In the Milburn Arms heyday it used to have a really top notch restaurant that used to attract people, including celebrities, from miles around.

"Now many of the people are worried about losing the villager’s main hotel which has been closed since 2008."

A public meeting to discuss the future of the Milburn Arms is to take place on Monday, February 22, at 6.30pm in Rosedale Abbey Primary School.

Val Dilcock, the national park’s chief planning officer, said: "The Havelock Academy have had a pre-application meeting with us.

"It’s too early a stage to know whether we would look favourably on any application if, or when, it comes in."