PLANS are in hand to curb noise generated by motor shows held at Elvington Airfield, near York.

City of York Council's enforcement officers are seeking ways to lessen the impact of high-powered vehicles on the local community.

This follows a number of complaints by residents about the frequency of motor shows during the summer and the noise they create.

Officers are recommending planning committee members grant them permission to prepare an enforcement notice. This would effectively grant planning consent for the use of the airfield for motor sport and other leisure activities, but give the council powers to impose certain conditions.

Mandy Swithenbank, an enforcement officer, said serving a notice on the airfield would allow them to install a noise level barrier and increase monitoring.

She said: "Since 1996 the use of Elvington Airfield for motor sport events has increased.

"We're not saying that we want to stop these shows, but we're looking at restricting the number of them and the excess noise."

Chris Hudson, company secretary of Elvington Airfield Ltd, which bought the site from the Ministry of Defence, said motor shows had been held at the airfield for 30 years without problems.

"We always get complaints no matter what we do," he said.

"We have monitored our activities and found that noise is not overly excessive.

"The noise from the racing cars is less than that from the road side. We've been in contact with the council on a number of occasions and let them monitor the noise at the airfield.

"There has always been dispute on what there is permission for and not."

The council wrote to Elvington Park in July, 2002, outlining the need for planning permission for the use of the airfield as a mixed use, covering motor sport, but say they received no response despite several reminders.

Mr Hudson said he hoped to attend the planning meeting on Thursday to put his views across.

Updated: 12:26 Monday, January 13, 2003