55 local residents attended the meeting convened by Ward councillors and the Dringhouses & Woodthorpe Planning Panel at West Thorpe Methodist Church on 22 January to air their views about the planning application to build 516 homes on land off Moor Lane.

The crowd begins to gather

The overwhelming mood of the meeting was that the application was unwelcome and should be strongly opposed. In addition to concerns about the impact on Askham Bog, other issues raised by residents included:

• Impact on the Green Belt
• Impact on wildlife, such as deer
• Impact of putting even more traffic onto Moor Lane, which is regularly gridlocked at busy times
• Impact on air quality of more stationary traffic
• Impact on local health services and schools

The red line marks the boundary of the proposed development site

Lib Dem councillors Ann Reid, Ashley Mason and Stephen Fenton reiterated their opposition to the plans.