Members voted by 15 to 13 to axe the scheme proposed for Malton School’s playing fields with council chairman Natalie Warriner – the authority’s Young People’s Champion – joining those against.

There were angry scenes and shouts of “disgraceful”, “shocking”, “shame” and “scum” from among 150 supporters of the project who crammed the council’s chamber for last Thursday’s crunch meeting, when the result was announced.

And Norton Cllrs Howard and Di Keal – strong campaigners for the sports hall – got up to walk out of meeting in disgust.

They were stopped by Cllr John Clark, who had also voted for the sports hall. He proposed a motion that would see the project back on the agenda and included in discussions on changes to the council’s capital spending plans but that, too, was voted down.

The Keals, joined by fellow Liberal Democrat Jane Wilford, who had been excluded from the debate because she is employed at Malton School, then left the meeting.

Earlier Malton School head Rob Williams addressed the council and said the school would put £250,000 towards the building costs of the shared-use sports hall.

He said: “Now is the time. Please look beyond your narrow, parochial concerns and show the vision and the leadership that the people of this district want and deserve.”

In a highly charged atmosphere it was Conservative group and council leader Cllr Keith Knaggs who said he was “about to become the most unpopular man in the room” by moving that the authority abandoned the project.

He said: “Instead of playing politics I’ve chosen to take the more difficult and risky route – not what is convenient, not what is popular, but what is right.”

Cllr Knaggs said the greater priority for council funding was investment in affordable housing.

That prompted an impassioned response from Liberal Democrat group leader Howard Keal who said the need for a sports centre was first identified in 1975 and the large number of people at the meeting showed that need was still there.

Appealing to Conservative councillors – the largest group on the council – he said: “If one of you has a conscience, use it. Don’t go with your party, go with the people. If you vote this down now then you deserve to go down at the next election with it.”

Fellow Liberal Democrat Lindsay Burr accused the Tories of “not listening to the people”, and Independent Cllr Paul Andrews added: “This is the last opportunity we will ever have. If it doesn’t go ahead now we will be remembered for it.”

But Conservative Linda Cowling questioned how the council had become the main funder of the project and asked whether any residents outside of Malton and Norton had been asked for their views on the scheme.

And Conservative Edward Legard also voiced concern that the council was “exposed to the full-blown risk” of the cost of the hall with the county council contributing only 1 per cent of the building cost.