The future of one of the country's smallest youth hostels 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 in North Yorkshire, has now tabled a second planning application in a bid to turn the 18-bed hostel into a home. An initial similar 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 - was thrown into the melting pot 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 put in the planning application for conversion.

She said the current long-serving hostel manager Mrs Celia Wright, who lives in Ellingstring, 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.

Nationally the YHA has 228 hostels, ten of them have come under threat of closure following the financial problems created by lack of visitors during the foot-and-mouth epidemic.

Following closure plans the future of Aysgarth, Dufton in Cumbria and Holmbury St Mary's in Surrey are now being reconsidered following widespread protests.

Some of the biggest hostels have about 300 beds. A spokesman for Harrogate Borough Council said the latest application concerning the Ellingstring hostel had not yet been decided.