Threat to jets vetoes fish plans

A bird is believed to have caused an RAF Hawk jet to crash

A fear about a threat to military aircraft has led to a plan to build fishing lakes near Ripon being rejected.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials believed that birds attracted to four proposed lakes in Asenby would place low-flying military jets at risk.

Guy Reeds Farms applied to build the fishing lakes on open countryside south of the A168.

The MoD argued at a Harrogate Borough Council planning meeting that the site is too close to RAF Dishforth and RAF Topcliffe.

A bird-strike is believed to have caused an RAF Hawk trainer jet to crash into a field near Pickering on 23 July.

But lake designer Graham Wilson told BBC North Yorkshire he believes the MoD are being overly cautious.

He said: "It's rather like chopping down all the trees near roads so people don't drive into them.

"I accept there is a danger but where do you draw the line?

"There are a lot of airfields in North Yorkshire but if you draw a 5 or 10km exclusion around them you are sterilising a lot of land."