SLEEPING quarters at a North Yorkshire mushroom farm can only be used by pickers and packers, planning officers have ruled.

Officials imposed the condition when approving a retrospective planning application for prefabricated bedroom quarters to accomodate eight workers at Greyfriars Uk Ltd - previously Wilgo Mushrooms - in Tanfield Road, Wath, near Ripon.

A Harrogate Borough Council official said the condition had been imposed to prevent the accommodation being used by people not working on the site, amid fears it could become a permanent dwelling.

Members of Harrogate Borough Council's Ripon area planning committee approved the scheme on a temporary basis for five years.

The firm said it had been increasingly difficult to employ local labour and so needed to offer accommodation to workers.

Mushrooms are not only grown on site, but brought in for packing from other areas.

Planning officer Mike Warden, recommending approval with conditions, said there was reasonable justification for the accommodation.

But he believed it was necessary to grant permission for five years. This would allow the authority to assess the situation ahead of any renewal application.

He said the application was not for an official agricultural worker's dwelling but for four bedrooms to accommodate agricultural workers.