HUNDREDS of people have objected to plans to develop a site for travellers at a arson-hit mushroom farm near Selby.

Developers want to build a permanent site for showpeople at Thorpe Willoughby, with 20 spaces for cars and about 40 spaces for fairground rides or vehicles up to the size of a bus.

But more than 380 letters and emails objecting to the latest plans have now been sent to the council, raising a variety of concerns, including about noise and storage of gas cylinders, diesel and generators, and the fact that other showpeople would use the site as a stopping point between fairs. Several residents said access to and from the site from the Selby Bypass (A63) would be directly on to a high-speed road by slow moving vehicles, and that the infrastructure would struggle to deal with the development as at least one local school was full and there was no GP surgery in Hambleton.

Hambleton CE Primary School has opposed the plans and a letter from the children and young people’s services at North Yorkshire County Council claims an influx of children to schools in the area would be impossible to deal with.

A decision is expected by April 10.