A DALES councillor has criticised a planning decision that left a young family's hopes of moving to a suitable affordable home in tatters.

Authority member Coun John Blackie was outraged and saddened at the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority planning committee's decision to refuse permission for a barn conversion at Cams House, near Askrigg.

Builder David Winspear and his partner Sharon Spensley were relying on the conversion to allow them and their three small children to move out of their cramped two-bedroomed rented accommodation into a larger home.

The couple have a two-year-old son, Luke, and Miss Spensley gave birth to twin girls three weeks ago.

The converted property would have been for rent in perpetuity. A severe lack of affordable housing means the family may now have to move out of the area which they have lived in all their lives.

The decision was reached after the planning application had been dealt with under the authority's controversial reference back system.

Despite the application being approved by members at two previous meetings, monitoring officer Mervyn Wilmington called it back to Tuesday's meeting, where Coun Blackie's motion to grant approval was lost after a tied vote of 10-10.

Planning officers said the proposed development was in breach of policies which ruled against new housing in open countryside. There was no agricultural need to justify it either.

Coun Blackie, who represents Hawes and High Abbotside at parish, district and county level, said on Wednesday: "It was a sad day and a very bad day for the national park.

"The decision was cold, heartless and taken in complete disregard of the interests of the residents in the national park.

"Members appeared, in my view, to prefer to toe the officer's line rather than stand up and support the local communities, and the local communities will feel very let down as a result.

"We had a real opportunity to test our commitment to those local communities yesterday and we failed that test.

"The obscenity of a policy that allows that barn to become a holiday cottage for visitors but not a home for a local young couple with three children is completely indefensible."

* See page 3 for a full report of the meeting.