PLANS to pull down a semi-detached cottage and replace it with a four-bedroomed home should be rejected, planning chiefs have said.

The plan, for North End, Skelton-on-Ure, near Ripon, would create a property of 120 square metres as opposed to the current one of 42 square metres.

Residents Mr and Mrs J Saynor want the semi attached to their home at Rowan Court to be pulled down, so a new outer gable wall would have to be built.

When members of an area planning committee of Harrogate Borough Council meet next Tuesday, planning officer Neville Watson is recommending the scheme is refused.

Although he accepts the principle of "some form of redevelopment" he regards the submitted plan as over-intensive.

If it went ahead, the scheme would provide what Mr Watson described as limited am-enity for future occupiers.

He also has concerns over access and absence of on-site parking, resulting in vehicles being parked outside the site.