WORRIES over potential parking problems and lack of on-site parking has put on hold plans to convert two large homes into eight flats in Ripon.

North Yorkshire County Council Highways Department wanted the application by Leeds Federated Housing Association for the flats in North Road to be turned down.

Members of the Ripon area planning committee agreed to defer the issue until talks had been held with the highway authority and applicants.

The two three-storey houses are empty, but have been used until recently by students at the former College of Ripon and York St John, which has now left its Ripon campus for York.

The properties had been occupied by up to 16 students.

The scheme is part of the Ripon Single Generation Budget Initiative to bring empty properties back into use, particularly conversion of former student accommodation into self-contained, affordable flats for local people.

Ripon Civic Society welcomed the plan, but protest letters from neighbours in North Road and Freemantle Terrace, cite parking issues, drainage problems, increase in noise, fears over refuse facilities and communal living space.