PLANS to create a site for travelling showmen on the outskirts of a village have been unanimously rejected.

About 50 objectors packed a room at Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough, for a planning meeting about the site at Nun Monkton, between York and Harrogate.

Almost 750 objections had been tabled against plans for the 20-acre site, where showmen from an area from the Midlands to Northumberland wanted to stay out-of-season to repair fairground rides.

Chairman of the area planning committee Councillor John Smith said: "It was the wrong application in the wrong place.

"They are requiring permanent residences for showmen and travelling people for virtually all of the North of England, and there would have been 28 units to accommodate families.

"I do have some sympathy with them in some respects," he said, but added that the development would have been unacceptable in the countryside.

Planning officer Neville Watson recommended refusal, and protests were led by the Council for the Protection of Rural England, along with parish councils from Nun Monkton, Green Hammerton and Kirk Hammerton.

Officials also said the road to the site would not be wide enough for the traffic.