A PARISH council has come under fire for rejecting a gift of recreational land to the community worth up to £20,000.

However the authority has hit back, saying councillors did not believe the move was the "best course of action" for the community.

Resident Robert Carter said Brompton Parish Council turned down the opportunity to gain the asset for the village at a recent meeting.

The asset in question is a two and a half acre piece of ground owned by Hambleton District Council (HDC), which is leased to Brompton Parish Council, who in turn sub-lease it to Brompton Recreation Group. It is part of the main recreation land in the village, where a pavilion and sports pitches have been built over the years.

Brompton Recreation Group (BRG) is a volunteer-run charitable organisation which manages the Weavers Pavilion and grounds on behalf of local people. The group has recently been in dispute with dog walkers after banning dogs from the grounds because of concerns over fouling. The group had formerly been called the Brompton Recreation Association.

It is understood HDC agreed to offer the land through an asset transfer scheme for the community, but told the recreation group they would need the approval of Brompton Parish Council, as the official lease holders, to officially be able to transfer the ownership of the land.

Mr Carter claimed: "The parish council held, at short notice, an extraordinary council meeting, the outcome of which was that the councillors unanimously agreed to refuse the transfer on the basis that it 'would not be in the best interests of the community'.

"At a subsequent parish council meeting the councillors refused to discuss the decision as there were ongoing legal matters in relation to the Brompton Recreation Group, which they also refused to discuss. I have since found out that the 'legal matters' are spurious at best and seem to amount to little more than a fit of pique on the part of the parish council.

"I fail to understand how accepting an asset worth in the region of at least £20,000 is not 'in the best interests of the community' and I believe that the parishioners of Brompton should be aware of this incomprehensible behaviour on the part of their councillors."

In response, Brompton Town Council issued a lengthy statement in which it confirmed an extraordinary council meeting was held in March, following which HDC was informed that the council did not agree to any transfer to the BRG, with "councillors being unanimously of the view that any such transfer was not the best course of action".

The statement continued: "No reasons were provided as to why the BRG had made this request to the district council. At the very least the council would have needed to be provided with a business plan for at least three years to demonstrate that the organisation was financially viable, as if they were not what would happen if they had to cease operation? It would not be in the residents' interests if that happened."

The statement cited "a number of issues over the years" that meant councillors did not agree the transfer, claiming that only football is played on the recreation fields, with the only hirer being Brompton Junior Football Club, the Weavers Pavilion building being "very much under-utilised for local use" and the ban on dogs, which "has lead to a great deal of friction in the area".

It concluded: "Far from an opportunity being lost this is an ideal chance for the council to take an opportunity forward and ensure that the recreational facilities off Station Road are indeed utilised for the benefit of the inhabitants of Brompton village and the surrounding area in the interest of social welfare facilities for sport recreation and leisure time occupation, for the purpose of relaxation and with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said inhabitants as envisaged in the lease.

"In consideration of the whole community Brompton Town Council does not intend at any stage to transfer its interests to any other organisation."