Ilkley campaigners are celebrating victory in their second major campaign to halt the creation of a new village at the former Middleton Hospital site.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, has backed an inspector's recommendation to dismiss an appeal by developer Hearthstead Homes.

Hearthstead appealed against Harrogate Council's failure to determine the 34-home plan for Carters Lane in the required time. But objectors - citing fears ranging from the effects on the landscape and impact on nature, to road safety worries - turned out in force at a Harrogate planning inquiry hearing earlier this year to register their concerns.

Campaigners have now learned that inspector Ruth MacKenzie has since concluded that the plan would be inappropriate on green belt land, would harm the planned release of housing and sustainability objective, would cause harm by 'poor design' and harm to nature conservation, to landscape of the Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and highway safety.

Although the inspector said it could not be determined if otters were breeding on the land, she said information from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust made it reasonable to suppose that the animals did live on the site.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister agreed to dismiss the appeal.

Ilkley Design Statement Group welcomed the appeal decision this week.

The group was among those opponents of the housing development represented at the planning inquiry hearing in Harrogate in January.

Design Statement Group chairman David Cartwright said: "We are delighted at the outcome. This decision helps safeguard a wonderful view across Wharfedale."

Mr Cartwright said it was ironic that the Inspector had recognised the potential danger to road safety in the area, when Bradford Council, the authority responsible for local roads, had not.

Another Ilkley organisation which fought the plan, Ilkley Civic Society, has also welcomed the appeal's dismissal.

Chairman Helen Kidman, said: "We were very concerned about the site and the potential impact of a housing development north of the River Wharfe. We had particular issues with the proposed scale and massing of the development, the design, its impact in the landscape, traffic and access, and the provision of infrastructure."

"The decision to refuse development is an important one for Wharfedale. We will read the inspector's full report with interest to see what lessons can be learnt.

"We now hope that the site owners will tidy up the derelict parts of the site and remove any remaining unsafe structures."

The plan included the removal of contaminated material from the grounds of the former tuberculosis sanatorium, still believed to be owned by NHS Estates.

Former Ilkley Parish Council plans committee chairman, Councillor Audrey Brand, welcome the appeal's dismissal, and said the parish council would prefer to see any development at Carters Lane be much smaller.

She said: "It's really good news. We were saying that plan was totally over-dominant to the site, and we were against it on highways concerns. The traffic there would be on very narrow roads.

"We do say at some time there could be some minimal development, if they were to put up about four decent houses, for instance."

Hearthstead's plan represented a reduction of around two-thirds on the original 'Dales village' plans for the site by Clays of Addingham several years ago. The firm later reduced this to a plan for 77 houses, which was refused consent after a 1999 planning appeal.