A MOTOR sport club is hoping for a sympathetic vote next week when councillors decide if a temporary racetrack should be approved as a permanent venue.

Yorkshire Dales Autograss Club has been using a field close to the main Northallerton to Richmond road, near Kiplin Hall, in North Yorkshire, for a handful of meetings a year since 1993.

But stricter legislation on ad hoc land use has been enough to prompt Richmondshire District Council to suggest a formal application should be made.

The authority's environment and planning sub-committee will be asked to consider a report on the matter next Tuesday.

Officers concede there have been few complaints about noise, disturbance or inconvenience arising from racing on the site over the past decade.

The report also points out that nearby Kiplin Hall reopened to the public recently, while concern expressed by North Yorkshire County Council's highways department over access to a proposed caravan site nearby may be equally relevant to the formal application for the autograss circuit.

Richmondshire's planning team suggests a string of conditions may be enough to ensure the authority reaches a compromise that satisfies both people who live nearby and the club's racers.

They could include a set start and finish time for 13 suggested race weekends, which would be published in advance to avoid a clash with any events planned at Kiplin Hall.

Tree-planting and landscaping are also suggested, and regular liaison meetings with residents.

Feedback from a number of consultees had not been received when the report was compiled and will only be presented when councillors meet at the district council's headquarters at Swale House, in Richmond, at 6.30pm.