PLANS to alter a campsite at Rosedale Abbey have caused consternation among some of the village's residents.

Flower of May Holiday Parks Ltd is proposing to reorganise its existing caravan and camping site to replace temporary caravans with 20 static ones. It also wants to install two ablution blocks to provide new showers and toilets for visitors. The proposal is due to be put to the planning committee of the North Yorkshire Moors National Park Authority on December 11.

One resident, Mr Haddon-Reece, commented: "The campsite is a already a nuisance to the residents who live close to it; it is a source of noise, litter and general disturbance. If it is expanded further, then there will also be increased traffic, light, electricity usage, and it will put a greater strain on the sewerage works."

Mark Southerton, of Edwardson Associates, is the agent acting on behalf of the applicant. He said: "I attended a meeting with residents who felt that they were particularly overlooked by the site and got a clearer understanding of their point of view. The application we have now submitted to the national park has been changed in the light of those points. There will be an increased buffer zone between the houses and the park where shrubbery can grow.

"We are not increasing the number of caravans, simply replacing temporary ones with static ones."

But residents are far from reassured. Chairman of Rosedale and Hartoft Conservation Group Peter Hughes said: "We are very much against this proposal. We have got 35 static caravans at the moment and they are proposing we get a further 20. They will be there all year round, highly visible from many walks and pathways. We feel it is completely alien to the national park and our dale in particular.

"We are objecting and so are a number of residents. Rosedale as it is has one mile of caravaning and camping in the vale bottom and we feel we are being completely out-numbered by visitors and we're losing our identity as a village."

Updated: 11:23 Wednesday, November 12, 2003