Cononley villagers have given an overwhelming thumbs down to plans to develop a key site in the village.

Outline planning permission is being sought to build houses on Madge Bank, a sloping field bounded by Crosshills Road and the playing fields.

The application’s design and access statement says the site has capacity for 25 houses, with access via a new mini-roundabout.

But, at an extraordinary meeting of the parish council on Monday, the overwhelming response from residents and members was to oppose the development.

Parish council chairman Coun Lois Brown said: “Madge Bank is probably the single most important undeveloped field in the village as it helps to preserve the open rural aspect which makes Cononley unique from other larger villages which have become solid blocks of suburban housing and businesses.

“The barn on the site, which would be demolished, has been in existence since at least 1750. The village strongly believes that this site is a heritage asset that must be preserved.

“The proposed design of the houses on the development does not respond to local character and history and reflect the identity of local surroundings and materials, quite the opposite.” She added that the access and increase in traffic through the village has not been thought through, with pedestrian safety being put at risk.