PLANS have been submitted for a motocross bike track near Selby.

The application relates to the former Selby Airfield, between Acaster Malbis and Acaster Selby, which has previously operated as a motocross track, but has now had a number of “earth mounds” built on it to allow motorbike riders to jump metres into the air.

Under the plans, the track will be open for up to 14 days each year, with a mobile caravan in place of a permanent site hut or office on the days the land is in use.

The report said: “The earth mounds created to be used as jumps give rise to the need for a planning application, but it is considered that they do not give rise to any detrimental effect on the character or appearance of the surrounding landscape.”

Nine jumps have been created on the track to date, with heights of between 0.45 and 1.65 metres.

A report into the level of noise created at the motocross track has also been completed, which found the sound levels - even when dealing with “larger senior class bikes” - were minimal.

A report by sound expert John Kirkham said that from 500 metres away, the noise of bikes using the track were “far less than a tractor, spoken voice or aircraft noise”.

Further away from the jumps on the 4.9 hectare site, the sound levels “cannot be separated from the ambient readings”, but “can be heard as an intermittent background noise” quieter than nearby birds.

The site was a training base for RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War, and was used by the RAF’s Maintenance Command between 1944 and 1957.

The airfield was decomissioned and sold off in 1963, and is now owned by D A Shirt & Sons, located at the nearby farm in Back Lane.

Documents submitted with the plans state the track was already operating for motocross bikes, and there was permission to operate a market on the site as well, while the latest planning submission was only filed following the creation of the new dirt jumps.

The owner has also offered to install new hedges around the site if planners felt the changes could impact on the area visually.

A decision on the planning application is due by Selby District Council in September.