A SCHEME to to create a landscaped garden at the back of Skipton's Rendezvous Hotel for the benefit of its guests has been rejected by planners.

Hotel owner Malcolm Weaving submitted an application to build the garden on land at the the other side of the Leeds-Liverpool canal, to be used for hotel guests for leisure and wedding photographs. The plan included an animal shelter for petting ponies, seating and a children's play area, as well as for the playing of music for wedding celebrations.

Mr Weaving told Craven District Council's planning committee that the garden would be another amenity that would help to bring visitors to Skipton. The towpath would be kept clean and tidy and and guests would be carefully monitored to ensure there was no excessive noise and inappropriate behaviour, he said.

But Skipton South councillor Robert Heseltine (Ind) told the meeting that the risk to the tranquility of the residents of houses in Snaygill and the nearby Craven Nursing Home was too great.

He tod the meeting: "I have never been to a quiet wedding yet. This is a grossly un-neighbourly application and an inappropriate use of the land for the community."

One of the residents, Roy Aldred, of Garth House, said that the plan could "create discomfort" in the Snaygill hamlet, especially for its elderly folk.

There were also worries that that the only access to the site was over the canal bridge, which could have implications if emergency vehicles needed access.

Mr Aldred added: "There is a history of noise at this hotel and the area is already a magnet for wedding parties which come over the bridge carrying drink with them."

The council's planning officers had given approval to the proposals, but councillors voted to reject it.

Planning committee chairman Cllr Richard Welch (Cons) said that there were "too many ifs, buts and maybes" about the plan.

Mr Weaving told the Craven Herald after the meeting that he was considering putting in a revised application for the land.