THE Dales Festival of Food and Drink will not be allowed to use Leyburn market place next year, the town council decided on Monday.

The council had received a report from the festival steering group following a recent meeting with town councillors. The councillors did not feel the report was completely accurate and were concerned about the proposed extension of the festival.

The steering group had suggested that the food hall should take over the whole of the district council's car park in the town. Coun Ian Bell pointed out that the organisers also wanted to add three more items and extend the theatre marquee.

"They are talking of expanding everything," said Coun Janet Green. "It doesn't look as if it would fit into the car park and the market square would be full for three days."

She added that having marquees in the car park did cause some problems for the fire brigade this year.

"I fully support the festival," said the mayor, Coun Trixie Walker. "But they are not taking the opinions of local people into account. Many want it to move out of town.

"We have to consider the needs of the town as a whole and we are not here to allow vast inconvenience."

Coun Bell questioned the statement in the report that there was almost unanimous support for the festival to be held in the market square. "We were told they would look for other sites just outside the town," he added.

"For two years the town council has had no income from the festival and it has caused much disruption," said Coun Ian Barker.

He said several businesses had reported loss of earnings for several weeks each year due to the festival being held in the market place. "It is taking an awful lot of business away from the town," he said.

He and others queried the survey carried out by the organisers, because it did not report much of this. "They only saw 34 out of the 61 businesses in the town," said Coun Barker.

He proposed that the festival could either use the car park or the market square but not both. And if they used the market place, it should be on a commercial basis.

But Coun Bell put forward the amendment that they should say no to the use of the market place as it caused too many problems in the town. "We should say sorry, but we want to keep it free," he said.

The amendment was carried by four votes to two, with three councillors being away on holiday. The council reiterated its support for the festival.