A CONTROVERSIAL bid to build a new farm shop near Selby looks set to be approved next week.

The plans will see a building in Mill Lane, Brayton, formerly used for agricultural purposes, converted into a farm shop, with 31 parking spaces and a delivery area.

Planning officers have recommended the plans be approved by the committee, which meets on Wednesday, despite objections from a number of local residents.

In a written objection, Brayton Parish Council said their members had concerns over traffic, lack of pavement access, and had been contacted by a number of residents who felt the site would become overdeveloped and a farm shop was “out of character”.

The statement said residents and the council were “concerned with this plan”, and asked whether the application “still fits into the ‘agricultural occupancy’ that is applied to this property”, as a business rather than an agricultural building.

North Yorkshire County Council highways officers initially objected to the plans over speed concerns close to the shop entrance, before revisions were made to the plans which made them acceptable.

The report highlights other concerns from residents which claimed “this is not a ‘twee little farm shop’ attached to a working farm, but a large development which requires all produces to be brought in”, and that “there is no need for this development”.

Planners have recommended the application for approval, subject to conditions, including the stipulation there is no excavation of the site, and no external lighting should be added without permission of the local authority.