A water mill considered by heritage experts to be of national importance, is on the verge of being brought back into use after 15 years.

Conservationists behind a £500,000 scheme to restore the mill at Gayle, near Hawes, in Wensleydale, are hoping to press ahead with the scheme early in the New Year.

The North-East Civic Trust is expecting an announcement on a major bid for funding within the next fortnight - and if successful, the charity will set about reviving the oldest unaltered cotton mill left in Britain.

The project has received overwhelming support from villagers and trust director Graham Bell said the main priority was to restore the sawmill operation.

"While it is recognised that it could not be run commercially, we could do it as a non-profit operation, making custom-made timber products like gates or way-markers for the national park authority and domestic uses," he said.

Another element of the long-term plan could be to create a forestry training centre, giving local people the skills needed to work in the area's long-established industry.

"This would help not only in terms of jobs creation, but would augment the industry that already exists," Mr Bell said.

"The other hope is that more young people stay in the Dales and don't move out for jobs."

Project workers will also be trying to strike a balance between promoting the mill as a tourist attraction and not interfering with the quiet character of the village.

The trust has not revealed which bodies it has applied to for grants, but they are likely to include the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The mill, built in 1784, was first used to spin cotton but was transformed into a sawmill just under 100 years later.

Gayle Mill has the oldest turbine in the world still at its original site and, as well as sawing timber, it also once provided electricity for the village's street lights, in what was one of Britain's earliest public lighting systems.