"Save our Swan" campaign group set up in Thornton-le-Clay

The White Swan at Thornton-le-Clay - Pic: Google Maps

Some 200 residents in the Ryedale village of Thornton-le-Clay are fighting plans to convert their village pub , The White Swan, into a five-bedroom home.

The parish council and Women’s Institute are among the leaders of the opposition and a campaign group has now been set up, Save Our Swan, in the hope of persuading Ryedale District Council (RDC) to reject the scheme.

While the pub has been closed for the past year, villagers have told RDC that it would be a “travesty” if the conversion plan gets the go-ahead.

The pub has been listed as a community asset by RDC and governors of Terrington and Foston schools have backed the objectors, saying the pub could help keep them succeeding as village schools.

Villagers say that losing the “much loved” pub will result in rural isolation and they claim it could be a successful enterprise.

RDC is expected to make a decision on the plan in the next month.

Eight letters supporting the conversion have been sent to the council with claims that the pub is not viable, and has been little used by locals and relied on customers from outside the area.