A parish council is gearing up to fight plans for a Dales-style village as time runs out for objections to the £20 million development on the site of the former Middleton Hospital, near Ilkley.

Harrogate Council's chief planner said all objections had to be submitted to the planning inspectorate in Bristol at least 28 days before the public inquiry which begins on February 23.

The inquiry, which will be held before a Department of the Environment planning inspector, is scheduled to last for eight days.

And Councillor Kate Brown will be attending on behalf of Ilkley Parish Council.

She said she will be objecting on grounds including traffic problems and the visual impact on the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural beauty.

Coun Brown said: "We feel that a decision to allow it would be premature because the decision on Harrogate's local plan is not due until next summer."

Representatives of Bradford Council will also be objecting to the proposed plan to put 78 houses on the site.

Harrogate Council has so far received a total of 30 letters of objection including ones from Ilkley Civic Society, Harrogate Civic Society and the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Beauty Joint Advisory Committee.

The extensive site of the former TB sanatorium is owned by the Durham-based National Health Service Executive into whose hands it passed when the hospital closed down and most of the buildings were demolished.

Health bureaucrats want it sold off to the highest bidder.

The hospital was originally built in a pastoral setting because of the nature of the treatment needed, but when it became derelict it was officially designated as an 'industrial' site in planning terms.

In response to a planning brief produced by Harrogate Council - which envisaged a Dales village-style housing development on the site - builders Clays of Addingham submitted a planning application.

The planning inquiry begins at 10am at the Council Offices, Crescent Gardens, Harrogate, on February 23.

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