A YOUTH hostel which has been hit by the foot-and-mouth crisis has been denied permission to build a cost-cutting wind turbine.

The Langdon Beck Youth Hostel Association hostel, at Forest-in-Teesdale, County Durham, had applied to build a turbine to create enough energy to heat the building, in a bid to save money.

But in March, Teesdale District Council rejected plans to put up the turbine in a North Pennines designated area of outstanding natural beauty.

The council also said the turbine was not needed, because it would have generated about four times the electricity needed by the hostel.

The turbine was to have been the focus of an educational centre, teaching young people about sustainable energy sources. It would also have provided power for the hostel during the winter.

The hostel appealed against the decision, but an inspector has dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the cost of the turbine would not justify the output, and that the effect it would have on the local countryside would be detrimental.

The £40,000 turbine would have generated 20kw of power, which would have run the electricity in the hostel with some to spare, with the extra sold to local electricity companies via the national grid.

Hostel manager Ewan Boyd said that, although it had lost the appeal, it would still push to install environmental energy equipment.

Despite a difficult year for the hostel, in which profits have dropped by a half in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis, its staff are confident of an uptake in visitor numbers.

Mr Boyd said: "Obviously this not an ideal situation. We have struggled like hell this year to keep the hostel running, and we were confident that the appeal would be successful.

"We have been striving to create more environmental ways of creating power and energy.

"It seems so harsh that we have been knocked back like this.

"Langdon Beck is the highest youth hostel in the country, so we are really in the wilds.

"But despite this setback, we will continue to look at alternative ways to generate energy and save money," he added.