COUNCILLORS have deferred a decision on a plan by a racehorse owner and trainer to establish an 18-stable yard near Northallerton.

Mr Michael Smallman wants to build the stables, along with a tack and feed store and a steel horse exerciser, at Yafforth Lodge Farm, but Hambleton council has received eight letters of objection and a petition signed by ten people. The parish council also wants to see the plan rejected.

A proposal for a similar but larger scheme just west of Yafforth Lodge was rejected by Hambleton planning committee in February on access and environmental impact grounds.

Objectors' concerns about the amended application centred on traffic movements, an allegedly dangerous access, extension of an access track along a field, the number of horses which could eventually be exercised on Miers Lane and noise, dust and smells.

Planning officers felt conditional planning approval could be given, as long as questions about access were answered, because the scheme met the requirements of key development policies.

The committee, however, deferred a decision so that the highway authority could hold more discussions with Mr Smallman about access.

Despite objections from the parish council and seven villagers who wrote letters, the committee conditionally approved a separate application from Mr Smallman to alter and extend buildings for living and office accommodation at Yafforth Lodge.