CAMPAIGNERS spoke of their delight yesterday after a seven-year battle to build a village school came to an end.

North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee granted permission for the school to be built in Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe, near Thirsk.

Governors have been trying to improve education facilities in the village for the past seven years.

The latest plans were granted outline permission in September last year, but a series of disputes over the access road to the site in Low Lane led to a delay in full permission being agreed.

At yesterday's meeting in County Hall, Northallerton, Hambleton area traffic manager Eddy Hayward said the traffic scheme was as safe as possible.

"I don't think there ever is a totally safe road to any school," he said.

"It doesn't matter what measures are in place, sadly accidents do occur, but I am satisfied that this is as safe as I can achieve."

The school currently occupies a cramped site next to the village hall.

Chairman of the governors Alec Hornsby told the meeting: "We believe without this school, primary education in Sutton will be unable to continue.

"All attempts to improve the existing site over the past seven years have failed.

"As governors, we have a responsibility to provide a healthy and safe environment for the school to operate in."

Earlier, protestors had urged committee members to refuse the application so they could, "leave the room with a clear conscience".

But county councillor Gareth Dadd said: "This is not a sex offenders' institution or a needle exchange.

"It is a building for 50 or 60 children.

"Local people have had their hopes dashed time and time again.

"At the outset of this application the objections were many and varied. Since then, each and every objection has been met in terms of solutions and contradictions."

Councillors voted by a majority to back the plans, to cheers by campaigners.

After the meeting, parent governor David Weston said: "We are absolutely ecstatic.

"It is not just about our children, it is about the children of the future.

"We can get on and start building, not just the school, but the future of the community.