A 300-YEAR-OLD pub in a moorland village has been granted a last minute reprieve after councillors voted against plans to turn it into an office.

The Plough Inn at Fadmoor, near Kirkbymoorside, has been closed for five years, during which time attempts by the community to buy it and run it as a pub were unsuccessful.

The pub's owner, Peter Wilkinson, applied for planning permission to change the use of the building to a Pennyholme Estate office. The planning officer's report recommended approval of the change.

At a meeting of the North York Moors National Park Authority planning committee on Thursday, however, members rejected the plan by eight votes to four.

Chris France, director of planning for the Moors authority, said it had been a difficult decision for the committee. He said: "The members recognised that this public house had already been registered as a community asset."

Supporters of the change had pointed to the presence of the Royal Oak pub in nearby Gillamoor, also owned by Mr Wilkinson, and said the two villages could not sustain two pubs.

Mr France added: "The committee thought that the pub in the neighbouring village didn't adequately compensate for the loss of this facility."

Resident Gerry McMahon, who had objected to the plan, said: "Most people here are pleased with the decision because if the application had been approved our pub would not have reopened in the foreseeable future, but I would really like to talk to the owners as I think there is a good solution both for their purposes and Fadmoor.

"We had a brilliant Elvis concert on Fadmoor Green last night which was a spectacular success but all of those potential customers for The Plough were looking at a closed pub, and that is a shame when we can help to do something about it."