And as a result of all the trouble, an open public meeting is to be held tomorrow for business owners with national park chief planning officer Val Dilcock.

Owners of the Stepping Stones Bakery and Accommodation Betty Pearson and Patrick Featherstone, who are defying the ban, said they were very disappointed to get a letter from the national park telling them to take their sign down.

Ms Pearson told the Gazette: “We got permission in writing from the Court Leet to put our sign out and we pay a small fine to them for it.

"We need all the publicity we can get – we are a new venture and we haven't even been going for a year so we need to start our advertising from scratch.

“We are in a rural location so we need to promote our business.

“We’ve left our sign out despite the letter.”

The problem began when a resident in Lealholm complained about an advertising board which had been placed close to their home, claiming that it caused confusion about which property it related to.

National park enforcement officer Barry Thomson said that although the complaint related to Lealholm, they could not enforce the ban on only one village but had to apply it to all of them in the area.

But a number of local councillors are supporting the businesses in displaying their signs.

The meeting is tomorrow at Danby Moors Centre starting at 7pm.