A FORMER health clinic site will be overcrowded under proposals to build new flats, according to residents.

Developers Harewood Housing Society has put forward plans to demolish a three- storey building on Quaker Lane in Richmond and replace it with 14 flats.

The scheme is a revised plan after the original proposals prompted concerns over its effect on neighbouring properties and the appearance of the area as a whole.

Richmondshire District Council planning officer Brian Hodges said the new proposals were acceptable and fitted in with the appearance of their surroundings.

But residents of Quaker Lane and nearby Penn Road have objected that too many flats would be built on the site, overlooking existing homes and increasing noise levels.

Residents have also lodged concerns that the number of car-parking spaces proposed is inadequate, with 13 spaces for the 14 flats, which include two two-bedroom flats.

Bryan and Christine Sykes, of Penn Road, said most residents in the street were elderly or retired, and the noise from the flats would be too great.