A parish meeting has taken the unusual step of condemning a rural area’s largest employer, accusing the firm of showing “complete contempt” towards communities after unveiling a plan to expand its operations in a designated National Landscape area.

Oswaldkirk Parish Meeting has issued the rebuke alongside criticisms from scores of residents and two other parish councils in the Howardian Hills following agricultural feed and pig finishing firm Ian Mosey Ltd applying to North Yorkshire Council for a certificate of lawfulness over its vehicle movements.

The application follows mounting tensions between residents of the area surrounding the 130-employee firm’s Gilling East base, which is behind the production and distribution of 250,000 tons of animal feed annually.

It also comes after North Yorkshire Council issued enforcement notices in September and January alleging the firm had breached of a planning condition designed to restrict the hours lorries used to transport raw and finished product associated with the feed mill could operate in.

The firm has appealed against the latest enforcement action while residents of numerous villages have claimed Ian Mosey Ltd HGVs have rumbled past their homes hours before and after they are permitted to.

In documents submitted by Ian Mosey Ltd, the firm states it is seeking to confirm its operation of inbound and outbound commercial vehicle movements from 5.30am to 9pm Monday to Friday and 5.30am to 6pm on Saturdays would be lawful alongside “any other inbound and outbound vehicle movements associated with the feed mill and feed bins at any time”.

The firm has stated there is no legal impediment with the council validating and determining a certificate of lawfulness, despite having issued the enforcement notices.

However, the application has generated scores of objections from residents of the surrounding area, who say they have increasingly been disturbed by the firm’s trucks, who claim the proposal, if granted, would enable the firm to operate a 24-hour, seven days a week operation.

Amotherby and Ampleforth councillor Steve Mason said he believed a number of firms, including Ian Mosey Ltd, were using planning to increase their business operations and “outgun” the surrounding community.

The Liberal Democrat councillor said: “The system which has been set up and supported by the Tory council is unfair for communities to protect their amenities. As far as I can see firms are railroading communities into accepting their increased development.

“Residents don’t want to stop HGVs. They just want fair time limits for HGVs. You also have to ask the question has a firm grown too big for the area of really rural villages?”

In its objection, Oswaldkirk Parish Meeting said residents were already struggling with “severe disruption to their sleep and the subsequent effects on their mental and physical wellbeing”.

It added: “Properties are already showing signs of structural damage from the sheer size and volume of heavily loaded HGVs passing within feet of their doors.

“This business is completely at odds with its location – within an area of outstanding natural beauty [now a designated National Landscape].

“Any further increase in Ian Mosey Ltd’s operations is totally unacceptable and his continued quest for expansion – in the face of universal objection from the surrounding parishes – exhibits a complete contempt for them, and the goodwill and tolerance they have thus shown.”

Ian Mosey Ltd has been approached for comment.