THE future of a plan to create a £100m country resort is uncertain after its developer revealed alternative plans to build 2,500 homes on the site.

The Skelwith Group, which has planning permission to build a 300-room five-star hotel beside the A1(M), at Flaxby, near Knaresborough, North Yorkshire said it remains fully committed to the hotel scheme, but it may need revising.

In 2008, it announced its hope to host the Ryder Cup at the Flaxby Country Resort development and won the backing of regional development agency, Yorkshire Forward and the Yorkshire Tourist Board.

The developer, which appointed former England cricket captain Michael Vaughan as its head of corporate leisure in 2008, said as part of an alternative scheme for the 280-acre site, it was also examining building a primary school, a village centre with shops, a GP surgery and business and office units.

The announcement comes weeks after North Yorkshire County Council gave final approval to a £1.4bn waste incinerator scheme, which will deal with up to 320,000 tonnes of rubbish a year from households in North Yorkshire and York, at nearby Allerton Park.

A spokesman for Skelwith said: "Harrogate Borough Council needs to find a substantial amount of land for housing and employment development to maintain the district's prosperity in the years ahead.

"It needs to avoid green belt sites, and to choose locations which are both sustainable in planning terms and which are in places where people want to live and work.

"In this context, we believe the golf course and other land may have a role to play, and this possibility is currently being explored.

"However, the matter is at a very early stage, and the idea is still evolving."