MEMBERS of a group which is helping refugees to settle in Skipton say they have been left "outraged" and "bemused" by Craven District Council's decision not to allow a rally to take place in the town.

Craven Refugee Support Group had hoped to highlight the plight of refugees, from Syria and elsewhere, by gathering at the town's canal basin on Saturday.

But council officials have vetoed the plan on the grounds that it is a "political protest" and therefore cannot take place on land owned by the district council.

The group's chairman, John Launder, said that activists had been left "highly bemused" by the ruling, partly because it could breach the presumed right to free assembly in Britain, and it could not anyway be defined as a "political" protest.

He said: "The group was set up for humanitarian reasons and has the support of Skipton Quakers, Churches Together, individual churches and the 38 Degrees campaign group, and many other individual supporters.

"To say members are bemused and annoyed by the ruling is putting it mildly. We tried to make the booking in good faith and have always been willing to comply with all the council's regulations.

"There have been no objections from the police. We have re-submitted an application to Craven District Council for the rally to take place on March 18."

In an exchange of emails with Mr Launder, the council's Assets and Commercial Services Manager Ian Halton wrote: "I hereby confirm that we will not allow this for two reasons: As a local government authority we cannot support “political protests” and therefore must remain completely neutral.

"More importantly the large volume of people expected will render the Canal Basin unsafe and is therefore a Health & Safety risk, not just to the people within the rally but also the other visitors and users of the Car Park. Please therefore source another location... not on Council owned land. I am very sorry about this but I cannot take any risks and this decision is final."

Mr Launder said that he had pointed out that the group had offered to provide at least six identified stewards, had public liability insurance of £5 million - and that a similar rally had recently taken place in Otley without incident.

Meanwhile, another group member, Andy Brown, who stood as a Green Party candidate in the last Parliamentary election, said he personally found the decision "outrageous".

He said: "Make no mistake, this is an affront to democracy and the right to free assembly in this country. The group has been willing to pay the costs of £300, and there would be no cost to the taxpayer. It's simply outrageous that the council has taken this stance."

A Craven District Council spokesman said: "We discussed the group's original request and there were a number of reasons the request was initially turned down, the main reason being safety concerns. We are now consulting on a further proposal from the group."