A NEW driveway at a well-known café near Selby may have to be ripped up, after it was criticised by local people and councillors.

Members of the public attended and spoke at Selby District Council’s planning committee yesterday, to discuss changes already made to Squire’s Cafe Bar, in Newthorpe Lane, South Milford.

The campsite and access to the popular bikers’ meeting place have already been redeveloped with a new driveway, but local residents claimed the changes had been made on Green Belt land and should not be allowed. It had been said people in caravans were using the land.

Councillors refused retrospective planning permission and are now considering “enforcement” action, which would mean the changes having to be undone.

Letters of complaint had been sent to the council ahead of the meeting, and supported a report which recommended the council refuse retrospective plans for the amendments, and suggested the changes to the campsite were encouraging mobile caravans to be brought to the site.

Paul Bowness, son of Squire’s owner Gerald, encouraged the planning committee to grant the applications and suggested an order for additional landscaping could be added to the retrospective applications.

He said: “If we are not successful and the application is refused, the previous problems with access, congestion and highways will resurface.”

He also said the council had initially been supportive of the “long-established” café when it opened, as it alleviated problems at former motorcyclist meeting places in Sherburn-in-Elmet.

Phil Thompson, a resident of Hall Lane, Newthorpe, told the committee the developments would make current traffic issues on the nearby B1222 even worse.

He said: “The site is already too busy, and I feel it is an inappropriate development to the openness of the area.

“I have personally witnessed two motorcyclists being killed on the end of Hall Lane. How can this be acceptable to let caravans into an area where bikers are coming for a cup of tea?”

Councillor John Cattanach told the committee: “This is definitely an inappropriate development in a Green Belt, simple as that, therefore it must be refused”, and ward Councillor Helen Mackman told the meeting: “It is a very, very great encroachment onto the Green Belt”.

The two applications were refused by majority votes.