ANGRY officials at Skipton Rugby Club are furious that they could be knocked back again for lottery funding because plans for new ground floor facilities do not include a lift.

After being turned down for cash on three previous occasions, the club put in a revised plan for new changing rooms at its Sandylands ground.

Although the changing rooms are on the ground floor, Sport England - which rubber stamps National Lottery funding - said "no" because there would be no lift to the existing first floor social room and bar.

Such a facility would mean even more building work which the club cannot afford. But it has fallen foul of disability discrimination laws which say facilities must be accessible for disabled people.

Club chairman Mel Mason told the Herald: "I have no argument with the need for provision for disabled people and we have never had a problem in this area since our facilities were opened in 1974. But to deny us support - support which is so obviously needed - because we haven't planned a lift is crackers.

"I have to be careful discussing the subject because it makes me so angry and my blood pressure must soar. I don't know what the hidden agenda is where we are concerned, but there has to be one.

"We are planning to build out at the sides of the existing facilities at ground floor level, yet it was suggested to us that we build a lift on the outside! Where is this lift going to finish? In thin air?"

When the club first drew up plans for a comprehensive project embracing both changing room facilities and social amenities, £17,500 was included in the bid for a lift.

But when those plans were controversially thrown out by lottery officials, Skipton RFC decided on a much smaller-scale project.

Support from the Skipton Building Society to the tune of £27,500 gave the project's Harry Crabtree Memorial Fund a handsome foundation, so the club decided to reapply for lottery money.

With ageing facilities deteriorating, youngsters are forced to change in the foyer and stairwell at the club because of pressure of space.

And because they were only intending to extend and upgrade the changing room, officials never considered that connections to the upper floor would come into the equation.

But the Disabled Discrimination Act, which came into being on October 1999, reared its head when the plans were referred to Sport England in Leeds for preliminary approval.

Now the club says it does not have enough money to install a lift.

"We have kids changing on the staircase and in the foyer on Sunday morning because so many youngsters want to play rugby and the club is booming at the moment," added Mr Mason.

"Yet to upgrade facilities which have been in use for 26 years and accommodate these kids in more modern accommodation, we have to install a lift.

"I'm wasting no more time on this project. The whole situation is crazy and we've got to move forward now."

A spokesman for Sport England said the club's new plan had been submitted to the organisation for guidance.

"We have what is called a pre-application brief where projects are submitted to their regional office for advice on whether they would be able to proceed," he said.

"This process is designed to help groups like the rugby club to save time and money on consultant and designers' fees."

The spokesman said he could not comment on the exact reasons why the club's plans had been given the thumbs down.