An application has been submitted for a plant on the former Dunlopillo site - along with a new access road to the A61.

The applicant is Hanson Quarry Products, which plans to move from its current site in Killinghall to Pannal if permission is granted after the landlord at the current site served notice.

Company spokesman David Weeks said if planning permission was given, six jobs would be transferred to the new site.

He said: "It's the perfect site in many ways. It has got the facilities we need, it's close to our markets and as part of the application we're providing a bespoke access which means we can avoid running HGVs into Pannal village and can effectively conduct our business with minimal impact."

But Pannal Village Society chairman Peter Stretton said the group planned to "vigorously oppose" the application.

The plant would be on the western end of the site, with an access road going south-east to join the A61 to the south of the village limits, through an existing field gate - which Mr Stretton said was only meant to be for agricultural use.

Meanwhile, village resident Elizabeth Bowden said she and her husband, Bryan, strongly opposed the application.

"I think it's totally unacceptable - concrete batching is a really heavy industry," she said. "Everybody I've spoken to says they don't want that.

"They all thought it was a business park."

Mr Weeks sought to alleviate concerns, saying the process the company uses involves mixing the concrete in a contained area so any material being transported from the site would be wet, therefore producing very little dust. He said there would be about 15 trucks travelling along the access road each day, along with a couple of deliveries, and the road would only be used by vehicles accessing the plant.

To view the application, go to www.harrogate.gov.uk/planning using reference 10/00577/FUL.

• Is the proposal right for Pannal? Email us at ackrill.news@ypn.co.uk or write to us at 1 Cardale Park, Harrogate, HG3 1RZ.