CONTROVERSIAL plans to create a new gipsy and travellers’ site in a North Yorkshire village may have to be completely rethought.

Selby District Council’s Site Allocations Development Plan Document (SADPD) has been developed to look at areas in the region which could hold 5,000 new homes and business developments over the next 15 years.

Among the developments the council wish to create is a ten-pitch gipsy and traveller site on land at Poplar Farm in Whitley, which was named as the council’s preferred option in September.

Yesterday, it was suggested that the landowner had withdrawn the land from consideration for the development, eight weeks into a ten-week public consultation, although the council could not confirm this.

A spokeswoman for the council said the consultation would continue, but there would “inevitably be changes to the proposals”, which would be based on responses from the public, new information, or changes in circumstance.

Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said: “I am pleased that the wholly unsuitable Poplar Farm in the centre of Whitley village has been withdrawn as a potential travellers’ site. Local residents will also be pleased at this decision by the landowner and I now hope that Selby District Council can find a more suitable location.”