COUNTRYSIDE campaigners have clashed with planning officials over controversial proposals to build holiday chalets in a North Yorkshire village.

The application to build ten chalets at Stonebridge Trout Lakes, Little Fencote, near Northallerton, have met with opposition from the Council for the Protection of Rural England (CPRE), which claims that the number of people and dwellings is unacceptably large considering the size of the village.

However, according to Hambleton District Council's planning officers, the development is linked with another tourist development - two recently- created trout lakes on the site, which are already generating a significant number of visitors.

About 11,000 people fish at the lakes each year, and in a survey of 600 anglers, 35 per cent expressed a wish to stay on site and fish for an average of a week.

Stonebridge Trout Lakes says the ten timber chalets would be used solely in conjunction with the fishing lakes, but the CPRE fears the development will grow to be a "monster", and it is concerned about the effect of increased visitor numbers on local roads.

The parish council has also recommended that the application be refused, because of the strength of feeling against it in the village, after nine letters of objection were sent to Hambleton District Council by local residents.

Their concerns included the harm the development would cause to existing businesses providing accommodation locally, the detrimental effect it would have on wildlife and the environment, as well as the open character and visual amenity of the area, as they feel the chalets will be out of place.

However, district planning officer Diane Baines said the chalets would not have a visual impact on the village, because they would only be visible from Low Street.

She said: "The scheme would make a contribution to the range of tourism facilities within the district, and the rural economy.

"It is not considered that the proposed development in terms of either activity or visual impact would be sufficiently detrimental to warrant refusal."

A decision will be made on the plans at a meeting of the council's planning committee on Thursday.