TEMPERS flared when protesters lobbied a meeting in an attempt to persuade councillors to block a bid for new bus bays at Richmond School.

At the moment, coach drivers delivering and collecting children have to squeeze into a limited number of spaces, battle school-run traffic and be alert for youngsters crossing the roads.

Teachers have been issued with horns to sound letting the drivers know that all their passengers are on board and they can pull away safely.

The new bus bays, which would be created on the school fields overlooked by properties on The Avenue, have been designed to ease the congestion and separate the coaches from cars.

But people living nearby are angry that the view from their windows could change from green fields to parked buses.

Some have claimed the proposals could exacerbate the risk to pedestrians because more buses will be pulling out of the school grounds on to Darlington Road.

Residents' spokesman John Barlow was given special dispensation to speak at a meeting of North Yorkshire County Council's Richmondshire area committee.

He urged councillors to put the decision on hold until the implications of Richmond School's successful bid for special status as a centre for performing arts had become clear.

He said: "There are also plans to relocate the lower school from Station Road while neighbouring St Francis Xavier School has also announced a major redevelopment and it could be worth negotiating a deal which would see all the school's buses parked on one site."

Committee chairman Michael Heseltine urged Mr Barlow to submit his arguments to a planning committee meeting on Tuesday, June 10.

Another protester demanded his views should also be heard.

He was asked to sit down but continued to shout over the chairman about his own objections to the loss of the school fields.

The man then left the meeting abruptly.