PLANNERS are being urged to give the green light to a £1.6 million community centre with sports facilities in a village near Selby.

An application for a new community centre/sports hall with bowls pavilion, car parking, floodlit all-weather play area and wind turbine generator on a site off Landing Lane, Riccall, will go before Selby District Council's planning committee on Wednesday.

Councillors will be recommended to grant permission, subject to no adverse comments being received from the principal environmental health officer or the county archaeologist.

Since outline consent was granted in July, 1996, the proposals have been amended to include a caretaker's flat within the main building because of concerns regarding security. The full planning application has been submitted by Riccall Parish Council on behalf of the charity Riccall Regen 2000, which has already secured a £632,048 grant from the National Lottery Charities Board.

It has also collected a further £59,000 so far through other fundraising efforts and will find out in April whether its application for Sports Council funding has succeeded.

A report prepared for planning committee members states: "The applicants regard energy conservation as an important factor and this approach has enabled them to secure a large part of the funding for the project so far.

"In accordance with this approach, a wind turbine generator has been incorporated, located in the north-west corner of the site adjacent to the existing football pitch."

Parish councillors and environmental health officers have expressed concern about potential noise from the turbine and requested further information.

The planning officer states that the main building - shown on the plans as incorporating solar panels on the roof - would incorporate a main hall, a smaller hall, changing rooms, lavatories, meeting rooms, a kitchen, coffee bar and social area.

Outside, there would be parking for 67 cars, an outdoor activity area and a new tennis court in addition to the three already on the sports field.

The officer states: "I am satisfied that the design, if a little futuristic, would be appropriate for this particular site.

"The sports facilities are arranged around a central cylindrical foyer, which would project slightly above the highest part of the roof.

"The foyer design is an attempt to reflect the shape of the listed windmill building, now a restaurant, opposite the site in Landing Lane."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.