GARGRAVE parish councillors have disagreed over what to do with the closed stepping stones crossing the river in the village's Low Green.

Earlier this year, the crossing was closed for safety reasons after two of the stones - of the original 13 - became dislodged and moved out of place.

Instead of carrying out a temporary repair, costing £1,640, the parish council agreed to wait until next spring to make a full repair, when the river was not flowing as fast.

But since then, three more stones have become dislodged and are in danger of being swept downstream, heard last night's (Wednesday) meeting of the council.

Council chair, Stephen Coetzer proposed having all five stones removed from the river and placed on the bank where they could stay until being replaced at a later date.

The meeting heard it would not require going into the river, and that the stones could be lifted by machinery from the bank at a cost of £1, 968.

They could then be re-set back into the river bed at a later time.

"We are running the risk of more toppling over and them flowing down the river," said Cllr Coetzer.

But, Cllr Gregory Butt said he believed it would take a 'tidal wave' for the stones to be swept downstream and said the council should stick to its original decision and leave repairs until next year.

The meeting heard that the flow of the river had changed following approved work to remove the remains of an old weir for safety reasons to the south of Airebank Terrace, downstream from the stepping stones. The work, carried out by Scapa Healthcare, was approved by North Yorkshire Council at the end of July, with no objections raised by the parish council.