THE "Wild West” days of planning in the Yorkshire Dales National Park have led to yet another request to lift a local occupancy legal agreement.

Simon and Sue Newbould, owners of Croft House in Skyreholme, have asked for the agreement to be lifted on their property, claiming there had been inconsistency in the decisions.

Their home, which was built in 1990, was subject to a local occupancy condition, but neighbouring Bracken House had been built just five years earlier without any restriction.

North Yorkshire county councillor, Roger Harrison-Topham, told the local authority's planning committee he characterised the period between 1985 and 1990 as being rather like "Wild West country".

He added: “An awful lot of subjective judgements were made."

Andrew Moss, agents for the Newboulds, said: “There is a clear inconsistency in relation to the approach to Bracken House and my clients."

He reminded the committee that in May 2013, it had lifted a local occupancy agreement on Top O’T’Hill at Feizor due to inconsistency in decision-making in 1990.

Committee member, Ian McPherson, asked that a decision should be deferred as the legal background is quite complicated. “I don’t think we have had sufficient legal advice,” he added.

The majority of the committee agreed with him.

l Report by ARC News Service.