A MAJOR redevelopment is on the cards for a visitor centre on the North York Moors.

Big plans for the Moors Centre at Danby could see the creation of a new rail halt and development of the site as a traditional shooting lodge.

A new children's play area could also be part of the scheme.

The North York Moors National Park wants the site to become THE centre for the area.

The authority aims to achieve the redevelopment without increasing vehicle traffic.

But parish councillors have already warned of the risks in trying to squeeze out the car.

The project was outlined to members of Danby Parish Council last week. The national park's information officer, Mike Pratt, said: "We feel we need to do something to change what we have at the Moors Centre. It needs development and investment."

The park wants to extend a public consultation and get opinion from the community before taking ideas any further.

Mr Pratt said the moorland exhibition at Danby was "old-hat and looking tired in the way it presents things."

"The whole centre needs tidying up and decorating and the car park needs surfacing," he said. "The grounds are historic but we don't make much use of them except for school visits.

"The River Esk runs right next to the centre but you wouldn't know it until you see a bridge 'danger' notice."

And just one field away is the Esk Valley rail line. Mr Pratt said there is the opportunity to create a halt to allow more people to come to the centre by public transport.

He said visitors had been at a high level for some time and there are very few complaints.

"People like the ambience of the site and at least half are repeat visits. They must like what they see," he said.

"But there is a danger that because of this we are preaching to the converted."

The situation is to be analysed in September when all views will be taken on board.

The park will then produce a business plan and develop the Moors Centre over a couple of years.

The project will cost hundreds of thousands of pounds, more if there is a rail halt. Funding will be sought from sources such as English Nature and the Heritage Lottery.

"There is room for some radical concepts here," said Mr Pratt. "A new audience would be created if we opened up the rail line to people from urban areas."

He asked the parish council to talk to the community and come back to the park authority with ideas.

The blueprint so far includes plans to:

* Restore the whole place as a traditional shooting lodge to interpret the history of estate management.

* Make it THE moors centre where people can find out anything to do with moorland.

* Incorporate sustainable development.

* Include virtual reality displays, webcams and video links.

* Develop a trail to take people around the whole site.

Mr Pratt said a play area - now discontinued - had been very popular. "We might do something to restore that," he said.

"We want to come up with a masterplan to keep the Moors Centre alive and interesting and get enough people through to hammer home the message of how important the national park is."

Coun Les Underwood asked: "Why not use the existing Danby station? It's not that far away and it seems a total waste of money to develop another halt."

Mr Pratt said: "We are worried about car use in the park and over-reliance on cars. If we improve the Moors Centre we would get more people and that could cause problems on the roads."

Councillors felt better train services in general with more stops would help.

Chairman Herbert Tindall said the car park was too small for plans to attract more visitors.

But Mr Pratt said: "That's not the game we are in. The national park stands by its policies to cut reliance on cars so we won't go down that road."

Clerk Pam Reeves asked about discount parking for local people - spotlighting a long-running controversy over residents being charged to use the area.

Mr Pratt said: "Everything is up for change. If we make the centre more useful we would look at how local people are charged."

Mrs Reeves said: "This is a very big complaint in the community."

Mr Pratt said it was hoped to make the centre more useful to the community with access to computers and other services, and also for meetings. A Friends of the Moors Centre group was also a possibility.

But Coun Tindall said: "You have to accept that the car is a necessary tool of modern life and work round it. If you make it hard for people to come to the park in their cars they might not come at all."

It was agreed that councillors would make a site visit to the centre to talk the issue through.