ORGANISERS of an annual show have questioned the morals of a council over its plans to charge for parking on a show field.

In an open letter to Hambleton District Council leader Coun Arthur Barker, Stokesley Agricultural Society has urged the authority not to introduce parking charges in the North Yorkshire market town.

The letter reminds Coun Barker that, in 1990, the society agreed to rent a small area of its show field to the council at a peppercorn rate to alleviate chronic parking problems in the town.

Three years later, the society agreed a deal to sell part of the field to Safeway.

The capital raised from the deal was intended to safeguard the future of the show.

But the council used a legal precedent to claim £225,000 from the deal because it controlled the right of way through the car park to the proposed supermarket site.

The letter states: "The council made it clear that, without that payment, the development could not proceed, even though it had not made any contribution of its own.

"The show society now finds it difficult to understand how the council can morally justify their proposal to charge the people of Stokesley for car parking when it has already profited by such an act."

The letter goes on to point out that the council must pay the society a proportion of any money raised from parking on the site.

"The net effect may not be what you have calculated," the letter warns, adding: "In light of these facts, the show society urges the council not to introduce charges for car parking in Stokesley."

Coun Barker confirmed he had received the letter, but refused to comment further.

He said: "I have received the letter from Stokesley Agricultural Society and will reply directly to them once I have considered its contents as part of the consultation process on car parking charges.

"Until that time, I cannot make any further comment."

Last week, Stokesley Parish Council said it was not prepared to give permission for the district council to charge for parking in the town's High Street.

- More than 14,000 people have signed a petition against parking charges in four North Yorkshire market towns.

The signatures were collected in Northallerton, Thirsk, Stokesley and Bedale by campaigners angry about Hambleton District Council's plans to impose pay-and-display parking in the towns.

Representatives from the four towns gathered in Northallerton on Tuesday.

More than 6,000 signatures have been collected so far in Northallerton. A further 3,500 people have signed the petition in Thirsk, 2,744 in Stokesley and 2,464 in Bedale.

Rosemary Dalton, co-owner of the Yorkshire Store, in Stokesley, said the level of support was not surprising.

She said: "We expected to get a lot of support because of the strength of feeling.

"The overwhelming response is that people don't want parking charges - people are appalled by the prospect."

The council wants to introduce parking charges from next summer to fill a projected annual £450,000 hole in the authority's budget.