A PARISH council's bid to improve its village hall has come under fire from some residents who have labelled the process undemocratic.

A referendum on whether Rudby Parish Council should borrow £200,000 to help fund improvements at the hall closes on Monday.

But some residents have objected to a clause that says anyone not returning a voting form will be considered to be in favour of the proposal.

Vic Smith, of Westholme, Hutton Rudby, said: "The majority vote will be carried, which is fine by me. If most villagers want the new hall, that's fine.

"What I am concerned about is if people don't return the form they will be classed as yes voters. It's an unfair way to do it and is completely undemocratic. What if the Government did the same thing at the next election? A lot of people don't vote these days."

The chairman of the parish council, Coun Judith Follows, said the referendum had provoked a lot of comment from villagers.

She said: "We've been very pleased with the response because it's not just about the vote, it's also about the whole process of promoting comment from people in the village. Generally, we are very pleased that people have felt that they could make these comments."

She added: "Any comments that are for or against, or are about the voting process, will be presented to councillors for consideration.

"We've had quite a few comments about the process and that's good in itself."

A public meeting at the hall on Wednesday attracted between 50 and 60 members of the public.

Councillors and technical experts involved in the project answered questions and gave out information on the proposals.

Coun Follows said yesterday: "It was a very useful opportunity for councillors to meet members of the public and hear their opinions.

"We tried to give people as much information as we could and explain the process we have gone through. We provided them with much more detailed information about the plans and how the parish precept could be affected, with figures for each of the property bands.

"There were some people who voiced strong opinion against the project and others who supported it."