PLANS have been approved to build five detached homes in a village near Thirsk.

The new houses will be built at Pickhill, opposite Pickhill CE Primary School, on an agricultural field currently used for occasional grazing of sheep.

Outline planning permission was granted in August 2016 for the construction of four homes on a smaller part of the current application site and a fifth home on a site adjacent to the land.

The new plans involve building five properties on a slightly larger site along Lowfields Lane in the village, made up of two three-bedroom properties, two four-bedroom properties and one five-bedroom home.

In a report by Hambleton District Council’s planning officers, it was concluded the properties were well-proportioned and in keeping with the scale and plot size of existing homes in the village.

The plans went before the council’s planning committee this month, when permission was granted.