REDEVELOPMENT of Hawes auction mart to boost the upper Wensleydale economy is the subject of a £100,000 feasibility study to be launched next week.

The project will examine ways in which the site could be developed to improve the livestock auction side and benefit the community as a whole.

Ideas could include more access for the public, including tourists, to show how the agricultural industry, particularly the livestock aspect, operates.

Barclay's bank has put up £50,000 towards the study, which has been match-funded by Yorkshire Forward from the Government's single regeneration budget.

Consultants Measurement for Management Decision have been commissioned to carry out the work, the first of three stages and due for completion by the end of March.

Development of the mart is led by Rejuvenate Wensleydale, a not-for-profit community company which grew from a self-help group set up to help the industry when foot-and-mouth disease swept into the dale in March, 2001.

Phillip Holden, chairman of Rejuvenate, said the first phase of the study would decide whether the project went ahead. "Existing mart facilities will stay, but the object is to harness the mart site to encourage a viable and sustainable future for the upper dale," he said.

"It will involve more public access by way of demonstrating what goes on in agriculture, in particular livestock. It will not interfere with the existing business structure in Hawes, such as the museum and other community and commercial interests. Quite the opposite; it should benefit the whole of the upper dale.

"Our prime objectives are to stimulate innovation and the local spirit of enterprise, and to find real ways of improving the quality of life for those who live and work in upper Wensleydale."

Karen Swainston, regional liaison manager for Barclays, said: "Barclays is delighted to support Rejuvenate with this project. Supporting regeneration in rural areas in North Yorkshire has helped stimulate enterprise and the benefits to the community are enormous. We hope that the success of the nearby Reeth community office project will be emulated here in Hawes."

Measurement for Management Decision explains the way the study will be carried out, and seek local people's views, at an open meeting at the Wensleydale creamery, Hawes, on Thursday at 7pm, chaired by Mr Holden.