Plans to convert a hotel into sheltered housing for the elderly have been refused.

The proposal by McCarthy and Stone Developments to convert Rose Manor Hotel, Boroughbridge, was rejected by the Knaresborough area planning committee of Harrogate Borough Council.

Objections were made by Boroughbridge Town Council and 16 individual protestors.

The town council said the development was against policy, and was concerned it would move closer to the ancient monuments known as the Devil's Arrows.

Borough council officials said loss of the hotel could have had an adverse effect on the economy in the short term and could spark similar applications from other hotels.