A STANDARDS committee has found in favour of a campaigner fighting for action to be taken about noise from Croft motor racing circuit.

Derek Watson, who lives close to the circuit, complained to Richmondshire District Council standards committee that the authority had failed to answer specific questions put by him about operations at the North Yorkshire motor racing venue.

At first, it seemed committee members would only be allowed to discuss whether the replies to Mr Watson's inquiries about noise controls at a race meeting in May had been made within the time limit.

But council officers said Mr Watson received a letter in October which dealt with his inquiries and, because he had not made a formal complaint since, the standards committee could not discuss whether he was satisfied with the answers he had been given. However, because of objections by Mr Watson, the committee agreed to meet again to decide if the council's replies were adequate.

Members also agreed they were not satisfied that council officers had responded to Mr Watson's questions within the authority's self-imposed time limits.

In October, executive director Tony Clark promised Mr Watson a reply within 14 days, but it was 16 days before he received a reply, and that was only to inform him a full response was on its way.

Speaking yesterday, he said: "I think the meeting was quite a success.

"We now look forward to another meeting of the standards committee as soon as possible, where we hope members will be able to decide for themselves how wrong things appear to be when it comes to the council's dealings with Croft circuit."