North Yorkshire County Council has conceded that a planning permission given to Tarmac to excavate gravel at a site near Nosterfield North Yorkshire is fatally flawed following the threat of legal action by protest groups. The approval will be withdrawn and the whole application put before the planning committee again.

The controversial decision is near the  prehistoric Thornborough Henges often referred to as “The Stonehenge of the North”. One claim is that the three henges form part of a prehistoric religous site.

The legal challenge refers to 8 issues, three of which the County Council have conceded.

An application to excavate a much larger area was originally refused but the current application was approved by the Council’s Planning and Regulatory Committee in January 2007 despite strong opposition and a 10,000 name petition.

The application will be reconsidered at a meeting of the Planning Committee on the 22 April 2008 at Masham Town Hall. The meeting will be held in public session.