MORE than 100 local residents have met to discuss a proposed new village on the site of a golf course at Flaxby, near Knaresborough.

Villagers from Flaxby and Goldsborough crammed into the Bay Horse Inn, at Goldsborough, to try to learn more about the proposal by developers Skelwith Leisure.

Ben Pilgrim, from the company, said it still intended to apply for planning permission to build at least 2,000 dwellings on site.

He said the golf club had closed because it was not making money.

Residents raised concerns about the impact of increased traffic on the nearby A59, which they thought would have a knock on effect on Knaresborough, Harrogate and local villages, as well as already overloaded schools and medical facilities.

A spokesman for Skelwith has said previously that Harrogate Borough Council needed to find a substantial amount of land for housing and employment development to maintain the district’s prosperity in the years ahead, and Skelwith believed the golf course and other land might have a role to play.