Residents in a village famed for lending its name to an apple have been pipped in a fight against building more homes.

Members of the Knaresborough area planning committee of Harrogate Borough Council voted to grant outline planning permission for homes to be built on land near Crimple Avenue and North View, at Little Ribston, near Knaresborough.

However, planning officer Neville Watson said the number of homes had not yet been laid down. That was something which could be determined later, he said.

Residents tabled a 38-strong petition against the scheme, saying it would have an adverse effect on the area's visual character. They also feared the development could be over-intensive.

Little Ribston was the first English home of the Ribston Pippin apple.

The Ribston Pippin, which helped put the small village on the map, was grown from a sapling more than 300 years ago. It was one of three surviving seeds brought from Normandy, France, eventually becoming a forest of trees