Compromise bid to solve dispute over village green play area plan

Hopes by Bainbridge Playground Association of providing the facilities in the centre of a conservation area suffered a setback when planning officials demanded the project be scaled down.

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's stance was supported by local protestors, who claimed the play area would be out of character for the village.

But the association now says it has reduced the scale of the scheme, ahead of the authority's planning committee meeting on Tuesday.

Its secretary, Samantha Parfitt, said the amended plans meant the play area would not be "particularly large" when compared to Low Green itself.

If the scheme has been altered to the satisfaction of planning officers, it is likely to be approved.

If amended plans had not been submitted, they would have recommended the application for refusal because of its impact on the conservation area.

The play area will include five major pieces of equipment - a climbing frame, a mini agility course, a set of junior and cradle swings, a slide and two mini-springers.

Richmondshire district councillor Yvonne Peacock, who lives in Bainbridge, said the plans should be supported.

"My view is that Bainbridge needs a play area. How can the village keep sustainable, thriving and vibrant without a fundamental provision such as a play area for its children?

"If approval is not given for the play area on Low Green, then Bainbridge will not get a play area and its children will be deprived of a facility most other children take for granted - a facility that will give endless pleasure to the children, while allowing their parents some time on their own."

The national park authority has received 38 letters on the issue, with the majority opposed to the plans.

A spokesman for the Wensleydale branch of the Council for the Protection of Rural England also objected, saying the site was too close to a busy road and the equipment would damage the look of the green