A SHIFT towards new policies has not been enough to stave off another twist to the row over affordable homes.

The Association of Rural Communities has asked the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate if rules were broken when the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's planning committee rejected a barn conversion application in Cams Houses, near Hawes, in December.

The couple who submitted the application claimed they could no longer afford to buy local property and adapting the barn to meet the needs of their growing family was the only way they would be able to remain in the area.

Their plea was rejected as Cams Houses is not among the settlements where new homes are permitted.

But there was an angry reaction from the local population when it emerged the application would have stood a better chance if the couple had asked to convert the barn into holiday accommodation.

Although it has yet to be ratified by the Secretary of State, the same planning committee has since agreed extra settlements should be included on the list of villages and hamlets where development should be allowed in future - and Cams Houses is among them.

The move has not been enough to mollify the Association of Rural Councils, which wants the Ombudsman to investigate if the original meeting in December was given full and correct advice.

A statement released by the association says members of the national park authority should be free to be decision-makers in planning debates, adding if the Cams Houses application had been approved, it could have been called in by the Secretary of State.

"This would have cost neither the authority nor the applicant anything and, in view of the petition raised in Upper Wensleydale, would have been a fairer way to proceed," the statement reads.

A spokesman for the national park said to claim December's decision created an injustice for all living the area was sensationalism.

"The right way for the applicants to question our decision is through an appeal to the Secretary of State and we have made them aware of that option,'' he said.