A BID to protect and preserve a North Yorkshire village by granting it conservation area status is set to be thrown out because residents do not want it.

Villagers voted overwhelmingly against the proposal despite being told by experts that their community was worthy of protection.

District councillors are now being recommended to proceed no further with the effort to grant official designation to Ebberston in Ryedale.

The sprawling district already has 44 officially designated conservation areas and a review of potential new ones is under way.

Ebberston was the first of 26 new settlements that have been identified as worthy of consideration for conservation status to come under scrutiny.

Such status provides increased protection for buildings and trees and ensures that any new development is carefully designed to reflect its surroundings.

The status means the size of any domestic or industrial extensions are more restricted and even introduces controls over the demolition of buildings.

It also places a duty on the local authority to publish proposals for the preservation and enhancement of the area and ensures that any planning matters come under special scrutiny.

Ryedale's conservation staff carried out a detailed study of Ebberston to discover whether such designation would be appropriate and decided it would.

But when consulted, most local people were vehemently against the idea and in a local referendum, only 29 voted for conservation status while 103 were against.

At a public meeting residents expressed concern. "Residents felt that council involvement was unnecessary and that there was already adequate protection for the village," said a spokesman for the planning department.

Villagers were also unhappy that they would have to give at least six weeks' notice if they just wanted to lop or top a tree and claimed conservation status would amount to an infringement of their personal liberties.

The planning spokesman added: "In the face of widescale community rejection it is considered that the designation would not receive the necessary public support, without which its effectiveness would be severely curtailed.