A VILLAGE near Northallerton yesterday won more time in which to have its ambitious leisure plans considered by councillors.

There had been fears that a scheme by Brompton Parish Council for a new £125,000 building, incorporating a sports centre and changing rooms in Station Road, would be thrown out by Hambleton planning committee after the Environment Agency said the area could be at serious risk of flooding.

The committee deferred a decision until January, however, to give the agency time in which to reconsider its strong objections to the proposed development at the sports and recreation field. A site meeting is scheduled for January 2.

Coun Bert Langthorne, a parish councillor and chairman of Brompton recreation association, said it was vital for the project to go ahead because the village would never get another chance like it.

He said the scheme had already been promised between £40,000 and £50,000, of which a large percentage had been given by a developer in lieu of a play area for new houses in the village.

Coun Langthorne said it had been recognised in 1980 by Yorkshire Water that Bow Bridge was a major contributory cause of flooding in Brompton. The authority had recommended that the bridge should be taken down and rebuilt, and other measures taken, to alleviate the problems.

He said: "Nothing has been done about this in the past 20 years. There is no need for Brompton to flood.''

Coun Langthorne said the proposed level of the building was well above the highest water mark recorded during the most recent flooding in November.

It was proposed to raise the building using a suspended concrete floor, and the sub-floor void would have grilles in the wall to allow any flood water to pass through.

The Environment Agency originally told Hambleton of its concern that the site may have flooded more extensively than was shown on existing records.

The agency had still to collate that information, but it could remove its objection if the building could be moved to the northern corner of the site and it could be shown that this area was outside the flood plain.

The committee deferred a decision yesterday following an exchange of views between the agency and architects.

l See Letters: page 22.