AN elderly resident of a village best known for its Michelin star restaurant has gone head to head with the owner of a grouse shooting estate in a bitter battle over a small grassed area.

Residents of Ramsgill, in Niddlerdale, turned out in force to a Planning Inspectorate hearing at County Hall, in Northallerton, to voice fury at landowner James Briggs’ move to deregister common land in the village featuring the Yorke Arms over 40 years since it was given the status.

Leading the objections, Mary Ralston, who has lived in the village since the 1950s, told the inspector she recalled Mr Briggs’ father telling a parish meeting he couldn’t be bothered with the upkeep of the land and that he was giving it to the village as common land.

Mr Briggs, whose family have owned the Ramsgill Estate for decades, said the  land had been registered as common land as a result of an application by the Ramblers Association and officer in charge of the process failing to establish the ownership. He dismissed claims the land had been used as a village green, for such activities as picnics, dog walking and children’s games.

Objectors said it was “wholly inconceivable” the registration wasn’t known to all residents of Ramsgill. The hearing was told no date would be set for a decision over the application, which could include holding a public inquiry.