CONTROVERSIAL plans to build more than 200 homes in a Ryedale town have been turned down.

Ryedale District Council planning committee has voted to reject the Gladman Developments application for 225 homes on land at Westfield in Kirkbymoorside.

The chairman of the planning committee Councillor John Raper was the only member to support the application, which was described as a recipe for disaster.

The proposed development has been dogged by controversy since Gladman Developments' original application was approved last August when a councillor inadvertently pressed the wrong button on the council’s electronic voting system. This time, councillors voted by a show of hands.

Residents of Kirkbymoorside, including the town Mayor Chris Dowie, spoke out against the development and urged councillors to turn it down.

Deputy Mayor Judy Watson told the committee she felt councillors had ignored the objections submitted by the town council.

“It is a recipe for disaster. I plead with you to think of the devastating effect 1,000 more residents would have on the town of Kirkbymoorside,” she said.

Planning and development manager for Gladman, Tim Dean, said that 35 per cent of the homes built would be affordable housing and five per cent would be bungalows for elderly people.

He said: “I would ask the planning committee to make the decision based on the absence of a five year housing supply.

“Overall, the site will prove over £2.5m in new homes bonus over the next six years.”