THE owner of an old Hutton Rudby cottage has denied he wants to divert a public footpath so he can build a house on a neighbouring paddock.

Mr Mark Foden, of Pear Tree Cottage, has said he has no plans to build on the paddock at North End. His cottage and field are separated by a footpath leading to an area known as Honeyman's field.

Following Mr Foden's application to North Yorkshire County Council for permission to divert the footpath, Rudby Parish Council debated the matter last month.

Councillors chose to support the application, but some believed they faced a dilemma. While they could find no specific planning grounds for objecting to the diversion, they felt that such a move would ultimately lead to house-building on the paddock. The fears led to villagers drawing up a petition opposing the move.

Mr Foden attended this month's parish meeting and said: "I have come to thank the parish council for supporting the application and to confirm what our plans are. There has been talk in the village about developers moving in.

"All I want to do is move the footpath to the top of the garden and do some work to the house. The garden will always remain a garden, and the footpath entrance will remain exactly where it is. We would lose about 40 sq yards off our garden."

On the matter of construction work, he said: "We are looking at putting a small extension to the side and front of the house, but there are no plans to put up a new house or flats."

Speaking about the petition, Mr Foden said: "It stated that villagers had to stop developers, but this was very misleading. I have been confronted by people in the village who believe I have a secret plan and say they know my type."

Chairman Coun John Richardson said he wanted to make it absolutely clear that the parish council was not involved in the petition.

"Since last month, I have learned that there may have been an error over the way the matter was handled by us, which meant the diversion application was made public before it should have been. Apparently, it is normal procedure to notify a parish council informally about a diversion application, prior to drawing up a legal document. This is to encourage dialogue between local parties and avoid prolonged legal processes."

Coun Richardson said his council would then be given opportunity to consider the application formally and it would be advertised in the press and on site notices.

"However, the original letter sought our opinion and did not say the matter was confidential."

Coun Caroline Seymour said: "It is a pity that people have signed a petition when they may not know the full situation. Councillors can only consider what is strictly relevant, such as whether a diversion would be detrimental to people or property, not the fact that there mightbe development in the future."

Coun Peter Markey stressed: "When we discussed this, the possibility of future development was aired. However, our conclusion was satisfactory.