PLANS to expand a youth hostel at Bellever, near Postbridge, have been described as a 'Trojan horse' by a leading opponent of the scheme.

The proposal, lodged by the Youth Hostel Association, is to convert a redundant barn adjoining the present youth hostel.

It comes almost five months after Dartmoor National Park planners refused a scheme to expand the hostel near the Forestry Commission's offices in Bellever.

The revised proposal involves creating two additional bedrooms for disabled people, a lounge, dining and catering facilities and warden accommodation in an adjacent building.

The earlier plan included proposals for a new car parking area, access facilities for a coach or minibus and a landscaped barbecue/picnic area — these have been removed from the revised plan.

Opponent Bellever resident Mrs Alex Lambert said villagers saw the proposal as a 'Trojan horse', that would bring an unacceptable increase in the number of visitors, and claimed the new proposals were a 'disguised' version of the original plans.

'I do not think any of us are against the idea of a youth hostel, but we are against it turning into a hotel,' said Mrs Lambert, adding that the proposed expanded hostel 'could overrun the community'.

The hostel currently hosts around 6,000 guests a year. Opponents of the expansion believe the present amount of accommodation is as much as the local area can absorb and say a proposed 20 per cent increased provision would be damaging.

Mrs Lambert described the proposal as 'cynical', saying the timing was favourable for the Youth Hostel Association as the first week of January was not a good time of year to get the whole village together to oppose the proposal.

Mrs Lambert said she was also concerned there was nothing to stop the Youth Hostel Association selling or leasing the complex to a hotel chain at a later date. She said the expansion of the site into something resembling a major hotel could also result in unfair competition with nearby bed and breakfast accommodation.

Dartmoor Forest Parish Council has expressed concerned that the new proposal bears many similarities with the previous one which was refused. The council fears the expansion would lead to increased traffic in the area.

Roger Gaffney, YHA director for the English regions, said he had been surprised at the level of suspicion and opposition to the expansion. 'We have amended the application to take into account the views and opinions of residents. We have reduced the scale and size of the proposals.

'We think we have done everything within our powers, but some people seem to have entrenched views,' he said.

Mr Gaffney said that the YHA was trying to modernise its facilities for visitors to Dartmoor and an expanded hostel could 'breathe a bit of life' into the moorland economy.

He said the barn adjoining the youth hostel which was proposed to house the new rooms for disabled use was currently redundant and unlikely to return to agricultural use.

Dartmoor National Park Authority has also received letters of support which argue that the hostel's facilities should be updated and improved and the needs of disabled people visiting the moor taken into account.

Dartmoor National Park planning officers are recommending a site inspection at the hostel before a final decision is made.