Accommodation approved for ex-playing field in Arkengarthdale

The former playing field is located on the other side of the road to the ex-Arkengarthdale primary school building in Richmond

A move to build accommodation for hospitality staff in the Yorkshire Dales has been approved despite worries it will "obscure an iconic view".

A slim majority of members of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority's planning committee voted in favour of the move at Arkengarthdale.

A local businessman put forward the plan to help pub workers, with limited housing options available locally.

But residents claimed it would "spoil the natural beauty needlessly".

The meeting on Tuesday heard applicant Charles Cody had previously gifted the land as a playing field for Arkengarthdale Primary School, but the school shut in 2019 after pupil numbers fell to just five.

The closure of the 360-year-old school was linked by many to the lack of housing for people on lower incomes in the dale, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Mr Cody, who runs the Charles Bathurst Inn near Langthwaite and the Punch Bowl Inn in Swaledale, told the meeting he had employed more than 200 local staff since launching the businesses, adding he was struggling to compete with the holiday cottage market to secure staff accommodation.

The meeting heard Arkengarthdale Parish Council had a tradition of supporting businesses in the area, but was opposed to the scheme as it would "obscure an iconic view" across the dale.

Upper Dales councillor and park authority member Yvonne Peacock said: "No one is against having some accommodation built, it is just in the wrong place."

Richard Graham, the authority's head of development management, told the meeting a similar view was available in many other locations in the dale and "very little would get built in the national park" if all scenic views were protected.

Other members pointed towards the volume of second homes in the area as a leading reason why the hospitality industry was struggling to recruit staff, adding the harm to the landscape was outweighed by the social benefits of the proposal.