A PUSH to increase the number of overnight and out of season visitors in Yorkshire Dales has received a boost after a controversial plan to expand a cyclists’ centre was approved.

Members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority said the plan to build an accommodation block, extend the cafe and improve facilities at the Dales Bike Centre in Fremington, near Reeth, would make it among the park’s best attractions.

The authority’s planning committee unanimously passed the scheme despite hearing some vociferous objections to the increased development of the site, which it was claimed would be out of character to the area and lead to light and noise pollution.

After the meeting, Upper Dales councillor John Blackie said: “This is a bike centre that has produced huge amount of input into the local economy and generated interest in cycling. The best spend you get in the local economy is when visitors stay overnight and this is what the expansion of the bike centre will produce.”