RESIDENTS have won a battle to halt a three-storey housing development which they had believed would be only two storeys high.

Anger erupted when residents discovered a three-storey scheme might be built near their homes in College Road, Ripon, on the former Ripon and York St John College site as part of a 40-bed elderly care complex.

Councillors have now overwhelmingly backed residents. The scheme had been recommended for approval.

An earlier Harrogate Borough Council planning meeting also rejected the scheme.