THE Government has announced it will not step in over controversial plans to build a medium-security hospital for mentally-ill patients in the region.

Partnerships in Care has applied to convert the former Royal Navy communications centre at HMS Forest Moor, between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge, North Yorkshire, into the hospital.

More than 200 letters of objections were sent to Harrogate Borough Council and protestors complained to the Government about the plans.

But the Government has this week written to the council saying it will not get involved.

A report to the council said it was possible the unit could house people who were on the sex offenders' register as a result of their mental state.

But patients would not be accepted if they were considered a public threat.

The report said early objections were based on a misunderstanding that the unit would house sex offenders and paedophiles.

But the applicant, based in Hertfordshire, which runs a similar hospital at Stockton-on-Forest, near York, said it would not take patients posing a seriously grave or immediate threat to the public.

The proposal is for the centre to deal with patients capable of being rehabilitated into the community.

The council is expected to grant full planning permission next month after several minor conditions have been agreed.