The future of one of the country's smallest youth hostels with only 18 beds is in doubt.

But the cash-strapped Youth Hostels Association (YHA), which has been considering the future of the hostel at the hamlet of Ellingstring, Masham, has now tabled a second planning application in a bid to turn it into a home. An initial application was refused by Harrogate Borough Council planners.

Uncertainty over the future of Ellingstring - £7 a night for overs 18s, £5 if you're under - grew after the foot-and-mouth crisis cost the YHA £5m of its £30m annual turnover last year.

But Carol Hancock, regional spokeswoman for the YHA, said the national trustees had decided Ellingstring was not viable two years ago and had tabled a planning application for conversion.

She said the current long-serving hostel manager, Celia Wright, was keen to see the hostel continue and wanted to buy the property.

Miss Hancock said if the latest planning application for conversion was granted the manager would be invited to buy and continue to run it as a youth hostel.

"If planning permission does not happen the trustees would have to reconsider the situation," said Miss Hancock.

Some of the smaller hostels have continued because they are linked to larger ones nearby. But Ellingstring does not have that back up. It is too far from Aysgarth - more than a 30- minute drive away - to be linked, says the YHA.

Nationally, the YHA has 228 hostels, ten of them coming under threat of closure . The future of Aysgarth, Dufton (Cumbria) and Holmbury St Mary's (Surrey) are now being reconsidered following widespread protests.