A LONG-running row over an airfield which has triggered four public inquiries looks set to intensify after its owners unveiled fresh plans to redevelop the site.

Campaigners who claim their lives are being blighted by noise from Bagby Airfield, near Thirsk, spoke of their determination to stop its owner Martin Scott from modernising the airfield, users of which include hobby pilots, the racing industry and power line repair firms.

Almost eight years after his proposals to erect seven hangars and several wind turbines and replace the clubhouse sparked an outcry amid fears the plan could pave the way for the rural airstrip to become an international airport, Mr Scott has sought planners' views over a scaled-down scheme.

A report commissioned by Mr Scott to Hambleton District Council states the plan includes demolishing the clubhouse, control tower and three hangars, changing the use of buildings and erecting others at the 15.6-hectare site beside the A19.

It states the proposals would lead to an increase of 192sq m of floorspace, but the increasing maintenance area was not expected to lead to an increase in flights, which would be capped at 9,500 a year.

The report states: "The length or nature of the runway will not alter through the proposed development which will ensure that larger aircrafts will not be able to be accommodated on site."

A council spokesman said the proposals would not affect the upcoming fourth public inquiry in five years into developments at the airfield.

Campaign group Action4Refusal, which represents some residents in nearby villages, said the plans marked a further intensification of the airfield, and the council had "proved powerless in preventing the airfield from marking its own homework".

The group maintains the airfield has been developed considerably in a variety of ways over the last 15 years, a claim which is strongly refuted by its owners.

A spokesman for the parish council in nearby Thirkleby said it was clear the airfield was becoming "a major urban development in a rural setting with potential for considerable impact to a much wider area" than just its immediate surroundings.

He added: "It's one thing to have a small mainly hobby-based airfield with some commercial activity, it's quite another to have multiple helipads, concreted runways and taxying areas, multiple fuels tanks and a massive expansion of the maintenance facility.

"All this speaks of deliberate commercialisation and the potential for a damaging urbanisation of this rural area."