A building firm is planning to build homes on land in Ryedale which has been flooded.

Tay Homes wants to build 31 houses at Norton, but the spot it has chosen has been flooded twice in the last 18 months.

The plan generated criticism at a meeting of Norton Town Council which is going to write to Ryedale District Council planners expressing members' concerns.

The site, at Bells Yard, just off Scarborough Road, was included in Ryedale District Council's list of sites available in the town for development.

But the council's local planning blueprint, the local plan, was formulated before the floods in March 1999 and therefore does not take flooding into account.

Norton town councillor David Lloyd-Williams said he was concerned that no one would be interested in buying homes so near the river.

"They are proposing one road access to these houses, but this access has been flooded twice in the past," he said.

"This means that anyone living there would be cut off if it floods again. This is a serious concern.

"I think the whole plan should be brought into question and this needs to be thought about in greater detail."

Coun Howard Griffiths said he was concerned Norton would end up with a white elephant.

"People might not buy these homes once they learn about the danger of flooding and we will be left with empty houses," he said.

Coun Lloyd-Williams said if the homes were built, there needed to be a policy in place whereby prospective buyers are given all the facts about the flooding.

Flood victim Howard Keal, of St George Street, Norton, said adequate safeguards would be needed before any building work commences.

"There is a danger that these new homes could be flooded if we don't have defences in place," he said.

"I think the best option would be for the builders to build the homes on higher ground to keep them out of the danger area. "There is a chance they will find it difficult to sell the houses otherwise.

"Anyone thinking of buying them must be told of the dangers of flooding."

ryedale@ycp.co.uk