A scheme to earmark 1,000 graves for green burials at a North Yorkshire nature reserve has been rejected by councillors.

Members of Harrogate Borough Council planning committee overwhelmingly rejected the scheme at Gertrude's Pasture, Scotton, near Knaresborough.

An extension of the burial ground had been applied for by Leeds widow Susan Thorp, whose husband, Mick, died eight years ago.

The council has allowed 50 graves - with only a few remaining - for green burials and Mrs Thorp wants to be buried alongside her husband.

Eight councillors voted against the expansion and there were two abstentions.

The vote backed recommendation of refusal by planning officer Neville Watson.

He said expansion for 1,000 burials would have an adverse effect on the character and appearance of the area. Mr Watson said there was an absence of any local need for a site of such a size.

He also said that an extension could increase traffic and the number of visitors impacting on local residents.

The committee chairman, Councillor John Smith, said the expansion was not only for local people but for the whole country.

"If the area was used for burials at the present rate the expanded burial ground could be open for up to 500 years," he said.

The chairman said street parking in the village was extremely difficult.

Permission was refused in 1998 to use the reserve for burials and an appeal later dismissed. But the same year, a scheme which limited burials to 50, covering only part of the reserve, was given the go-ahead.

Last October, a plea to conduct burials anywhere in the reserve was refused.

The burial ground is run by A B Welfare and Wildlife Trust, from Scotton.