PLANS for a £500,000 base for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance have been unveiled.

The base would provide emergency cover for the whole county during the summer.

Martin Eede, chief executive of the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA), said the charity had already identified the perfect site for the base, just north of Eden Camp, near Malton.

The site is off the A169 and has enough room for a 300-metre runway, a landing pad, offices and fuel storage tanks.

Statistics collected by the YAA show the number of accidents across the region nearly doubles during the summer. A third of all call-outs come from Ryedale.

The proposed base would operate in June, July and August, which is the peak period.

Mr Eede said: "We believe a satellite airbase in the Malton area is absolutely vital if we are going to provide the level of cover and support that people in North Yorkshire need.

"With a base at Malton we could get to the Hole of Horcum in five minutes as opposed to 20 minutes.

"We could be in Selby or on the coast in less that ten minutes."

The YAA held a public meeting in Malton last week to consult residents and local business people on the plans.

"It is a big decision for us and we want to get it right," said Mr Eede.

"We don't want to impose something on the local population that it doesn't want.

"People in the Malton area have been brilliant and we want to firm up support."

The proposed base is part of a wider upgrade of the service, which has recently replaced its Bolkow 105 helicopter with an MD902 Explorer, operating from Leeds Bradford airport.

The plan is to build two satellite bases, so that the aircraft can be used across three bases to give added flexibility and to reduce response times.

The first satellite base will be in Barnsley, near the M1.

In considering the best place for the second, ambulance officials assessed the number of land and air call-outs across Yorkshire.