A LEADING engineering company has been accused of moral blackmail for saying that its future in Northallerton rests on a controversial redevelopment of its site involving the loss of 100-year-old gardens.

Allerton Engineering, a major skilled employer with 65 staff, hopes to increase its workforce by 50pc over the next three years by commissioning and moving into new £3m accommodation on the Darlington Road industrial estate in the town.

The company said it could only do that, however, if Hambleton District Council approved plans by Persimmon Homes for a housing development on the existing Romanby Road site.

Earlier plans by Persimmon for 50 houses and 19 flats on the site behind Bridge Terrace provoked the anger of residents who, while stressing that they did not oppose the redevelopment, protested that they would lose gardens rented from Allerton Engineering.

Residents lobbied the town council in July, saying loss of the gardens would mean the end not only of a safe environment for children but of a wildlife habitat with plants, bushes and mature trees. They were also unhappy that the scheme allowed only eight parking spaces for the 14 houses.

They applauded when, after presenting their case and showing photographs of some of the gardens, town councillors agreed to recommend rejection of the scheme.

Next month an amended scheme for 62 houses on the 3.3-acre site, classified as brownfield, is expected to be considered by Hambleton development control committee. Allerton Engineering said it was in line with the local plan.

Maurice Cann, head of development control at Hambleton, said the authority had received an initial draft of the revised plans and confirmed that, although they still included the gardens, they indicated a communal open space and play area and parking spaces for all residents.

Mr Cann said that when the amended application was formally submitted consultations would be held again in the normal way. It was hoped to present the application to the committee in October.

Allerton Engineering was previously Allerton Industries, founded on the same site in 1954. The company was relaunched with its present name when its predecessor went into receivership during the recession of the Eighties.

The company, which has recently completed projects throughout the UK as well as in Ireland, mainland Europe, India, Egypt and the Far East, puts £1.5m a year into the local economy in wages, payments to sub-contractors and suppliers, rent and rates.

Company chairman Lawrence Ellis said: "We considered the option of moving to an area which provides better incentives but we have been established in Northallerton in one form or another for almost half a century. We have a very good and loyal workforce and would rather remain here.

"The company marks its 20th anniversary this year and is enjoying a period of dramatic growth. We must move to more appropriate and up to date premises to fulfil our potential and we need the scheme for our existing site to be supported to give us the funds to do so.

"The Romanby Road site is cramped and inefficient, with little space for further expansion and we have to curtail operating hours and weekend working because of noise nuisance to adjoining residents.

"Our highly supportive employees deserve better facilities and if we move we are committed to increasing our workforce by 50pc within three years.

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