SPORTS enthusiasts could lose a downhill bike track on the North York Moors as angry locals say it will damage a national park.

The track is at Carlton in Cleveland, in the North York Moors National Park, and critics feel users will cause erosion.

The track at Underhill Farm, near Stokesley, has been used since 2008 when it was created without the approval of the park’s planning committee.

Park authority enforcement officers met the applicant Michael Thomsett to discuss the zig-zag style track and he put in a retrospective planning application.

Carlton in Cleveland Parish Council and the Ramblers Association plus several locals have criticised the plan on several issues.

They feel the track, and its users, will damage the moorland and leave visible scars, and that it will risk public safety and they say other better sites are available.

The opponents also claim the track’s users will leave litter lying about and say that, if approved, the scheme will mean extra traffic.

Linda Scarlett, clerk of Carlton in Cleveland Parish Council, said: "I don’t think anyone in the village supports this.

"Mr Thomsett has tried to allay fears and said it will be for several events each year only but you can’t stop people using at other times.

"There was motorbike scrambling up there some years ago and it wrecked the bank and the national park got rid of it.

"The hillside is still regenerating and there’s a fear the area could be damaged again."

The Ramblers Association wants a survey carried out to determine whether any rare or protected flora exists if the plan is approved.

They also want the track restricted to three events each year which the park authority can scrap if it would mean unreasonable damage to the area.

Val Dilcock, the park’s chief planning officer, said events at the track may attract up to 300 riders and 3,000 spectators.

She added that once erosion had started on the moorland it might take many years for it to recover.

Mr Thomsett, of Osmotherley, said: "It's a great shame there are concerns about this.

"I've seen the local parish council objections and visually it is not a scar on the landscape but I don't think we have much chance of getting it through.

"Mountain biking is a national sport and it's growing fast and there's very few decent tracks in England."

The national park’s planning authority discusses the application on Thursday (may 7) and it is recommended to refuse it.