THE chairman of Kirby Misperton Parish Council has resigned in the wake of the decision to allow fracking near the village.

Paul Wicks said in his resignation letter that he "no longer wishes to be part of the system" that would approve a planning decision against what he says are the interests of the village.

Mr Wicks wrote: "I feel I have been unable to represent the interests of the residents of Kirby Misperton as a councillor and am therefore resigning from the parish council as of today.

"I originally agreed to join the parish council because I believed it was worthwhile to provide my time voluntarily to serve as a parish councillor in order to make a difference for the local community.

"The parish council has spent time and money in trying to best represent local residents regarding this application, but the approval, despite the objection from the parish council and opposition from our own representative on the county council (among many others), has left me feeling that my serving on the parish council no longer serves a useful purpose.

"Better minds than mine can probably analyse what is wrong with a system that prevents councils from making decisions based purely on the best interests of the public by creating a bureaucratic process that only allows 'material considerations' to be taken into account when making decisions that affect so many.

"I have decided that I no longer wish to be part of such a system."

Mr Wicks ended his letter of resignation by saying that he thought that not only was the application not in local interests, it wasn't in national interests either.

Kirby Misperton were one of many parish and town councils across Ryedale that had registered objections to the application, which was eventually approved by the county council on May 23.

l Letters: Page 12 & 13