A VILLAGE on the outskirts of York is divided over a pig farmer's plans to build homes on green belt land.

Chris England, whose family has run a pig-breeding business at Holtby for 27 years, claims the state of the pig farming industry is so poor it is impossible for him to continue. He has previously described the past two years as being "like a prison sentence."

Mr England, a member of the British Pig Industry Group, says consultants have concluded that "no prudent farmer" would invest more money in the farm because of the current economic conditions.

He collected the names of 60 villagers in Holtby to back his housing plans, but other villagers at a lively meeting said they were opposed and posters have gone up around the village saying "Save our Green Belt."

Some villagers hit out at Mr England after he called for the resignation of Holtby Parish Council chairman Norman West.

Mr England said councillors had failed to take into account a petition of 60 names he had collected in support of his planning application to City of York Council.

The only reason he had collected the names, he claimed, was because Coun West had said he would go with the view of the majority of residents.

Mr England said he had been pleasantly surprised by the number of people who had supported his plan and, calling on Coun West to resign, he said: "I would like to remind the council that they are servants of the parish, not the masters of it."

But Coun West said he was not one of the three councillors who had voted on the matter and his personal objections were based on the fact that the land was in the green belt.

Mr England also hit out at Holtby property owner George Wilson, who objected to his application, saying that Mr Wilson was not a parishioner. He said Mr Wilson had been happy to redevelop his own land.

Mr Wilson said his development had been simply a diversification of agricultural buildings, not a new development.

He said Mr England did not understand how local democracy worked. "We don't ask elected representatives to come back to the electorate to hold a referendum or straw poll on any issue on which they have to make a decision," he said.

Coun Mick Proctor pointed out that there were 135 electors in the village, so the 60 names Mr England had collected did not signify a majority of residents.

And resident David Butler-Adams said he objected to Mr England's visiting his house at 9.30pm when it was dark and claimed anyone aged over 80 would have felt such a visit was coercion.

He said: "I'm jolly sure there is not over half the village in favour."

Resident Thomas Matheson said someone unconnected with the application should have collected views on the matter rather than Mr England himself.

Mr England countered that Mr Matheson's wife had collected signatures when she led a campaign about street lighting.

City of York Council will consider the application later this year.