A FARMER'S bid to diversify by creating two fishing ponds could be scuppered by local planners.

Mike Cowling's plans for ponds on a hillside south of Urra, near Chop Gate, have the support of almost 100 people who have signed a petition backing the scheme.

The National Farmers' Union has backed the project, saying: "Developing alternative income streams for farms is essential in today's economic conditions."

It said alternative incomes had become even more important because of the reforms in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.

But North York Moors National Park planning officials said the project would have an adverse affect on the character of the area and recommended its refusal.

Mr Cowling's plans are for two fishing ponds, one below the other. They would be fed by an existing stream and created by making two raised banks.

The upper would be 75m by 35m at its widest and 75m by 10m at its narrowest. There would be parking for ten cars and an access road.

Mr Cowling, of Meynell Hall Farm, Great Broughton, already operates a fishing lake off Ingleby Road, four miles away. "It's a nice sideline which doesn't do anyone any harm," he said.

However, chief planning officer Val Dilcock said the size and location of the ponds and the car-parking and the access road would be inappropriate.