HALF of a small housing development in a dales village is to be set aside as affordable accommodation for local people.

The Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority approved plans for eight houses at Place Hill, Reeth, four of which will be run by Broadacres Housing Association, one offered for rent and three on a shared ownership basis.

A legal agreement will mean that the two-bedroomed properties will remain in the association's control and will be offered first to people in Reeth parish, then to other Swaledale and Arkengarthdale parishes, and finally to residents of the rest of the national park.

Objectors said that the development would be overbearing to other homes in the Silver Street area, but planners said that the scheme satisfied planning and housing policies and would help relieve a shortage of affordable homes.