COUNCILLORS have given overwhelming backing to a community's plea to convert a disused Methodist chapel into a home.

Eight members of a Ripon area planning committee of Harrogate Borough Council voted for the conversion with one abstention - rejecting planning officers' advice to refuse the application.

Because they voted against the recommendation for Laverton Methodist Chapel, near Ripon, they must re-run the application at their next meeting under special procedures.

The village, which has only 28 homes, saw its chapel close two years ago as congregations dwindled.

The application was made by the Reverend Graham Sturdy, the superintendent Methodist minister.

Residents were in favour of converting the chapel into a home and opposed its use as a community facility. A survey of the 28 homes brought replies from 20, all urging conversion.

In addition, there were 22 letters backing the housing plan and opposing "any sort of community centre in our village", saying that would generate on-street parking.

A report from chartered surveyor Douglas Marr said that following active marketing there was no reasonable prospect of securing a satisfactory and viable alternative community use in the short term.