THE strength of feeling against a waste transfer station being opened in a village has been underlined at a public meeting.

Up to 100 people attended a meeting on Wednesday night to decide the next phase of the protest campaign.

Yorwaste has already lodged one application for permission to open a site on a former landfill site on the edge of Brompton-on-Swale.

The company is also appealing against Richmondshire District Council's earlier decision to reject a bid for a similar operation at an empty industrial unit off the village's Bridge Road.

Residents - who are equally opposed to both schemes - say their lives will be made a misery if a waste transfer station is allowed to open so near to their homes.

Businesses with premises nearby have also said their trade could be damaged by the operation, while the parish council has said the village is not the right place for Yorwaste's proposals.

The firm has said it needs a temporary base to replace the facility that will be lost when Scorton landfill site closes.

On Wednesday, villagers voted unanimously to ask Richmondshire District Council to request that the appeal against the refusal of the Bridge Road site be dealt with by an informal hearing before a Government planning inspector.

Evidence will include more than 100 letters of objection as well as Richmondshire District Council's case for refusing the application.

Representatives will also be selected to present the views of residents, the local business community and the parish council.

The meeting agreed residents should argue against the waste transfer station on the grounds of smell, possible contamination, the risk of vermin infesting the site and a risk of increased litter.

The parish council's objections will include claims that a waste transfer station is incompatible with nearby homes and businesses.