A RUGBY club under notice to quit the ground on which it has played for nearly a century has received a double boost.

Harrogate Rugby Union Club, the top team in North Yorkshire, looks likely to receive planning consent for a new home on 30 acres of farmland at Moorlands Farm, Otley Road, Killinghall.

Councillors, who rejected a previous application by just one vote six months ago, will take a look at revised plans on Thursday and are being urged by planners to approve them.

The council's cabinet also meets tomorrow to consider a suggestion that the club receives a grant of £11,250 towards funds depleted by work aimed at securing a new home.

If councillors approve a development plan, it will be conditional on consent for housing being granted for the current ground at Claro Road.

The club has done a £7m deal with Crest Homes, which has seen it net a £610,000 deposit, with the rest of the cash following only if homes are built.

The council's major development team leader, Anne Smith, is not raising objections to the farmland plan, which has brought the planning department one of its biggest ever postbags.

Opponents have submitted 315 protest letters, but supporters have bombarded the offices with 602 letters and five petitions with a total of 1,646 signatures