PLANS to continue restoring an 18th century Aiskew watermill and its surroundings look like grinding to a halt because a route vital to raising money has finally been blocked.

Mr David Clark and his wife, Carol, want to create jobs and attract more visitors to Bedale by completing restoration of the grade two-listed building and cleaning out the silted-up mill race and part of Bedale Beck above the harbour.

Their plans have been dealt a serious blow, however, after a planning inspector ruled that a local authority was right to refuse permission for a small housing development which would have helped to generate the necessary funding.

It is the latest setback for the couple at the end of a year when they have lost valuable income because the foot-and-mouth crisis has forced the closure of their Big Sheep and Little Cow visitor farm, which attracts up to 20,000 people annually.

Mr and Mrs Clark, who bought the mill 19 years ago, hope to restore it as a working museum alongside the visitor farm. The first stage of restoration, involving roof repairs and other work to make the building weatherproof, has been completed.

The overall cost of completing the mill restoration is estimated at £100,000, of which half would come from English Heritage. It would cost another £15,000 to clean out the mill race and beck.

To help finish the project, the Clarks wanted to buy back land at Aiskew Bank farm, which went with their property until 1918 and is separated from the mill by the Northallerton to Redmire railway.

They submitted an outline application to Hambleton council last February in the hope of winning permission for three new houses and conversion of an old stone barn. Plots would then have been sold to a developer.

The planning committee rejected the application in July only a day after the couple had lodged an appeal against non-determination, claiming the authority had unnecessarily delayed a decision for two months.

Committee members agreed with officers that the scheme was unacceptable under an interim policy, ratified by the full council only two days previously, designed to manage house building across Hambleton so that a figure of 4,500 completions by 2006 is not exceeded. Under the policy, Hambleton is refusing housing developments on windfall greenfield sites within development limits.

It was also maintained that the Clarks' proposed development would harm the open character of that part of Aiskew Bank because trees and shrubs would have to be removed.

Mr Clark said this week that he was disappointed with the decision of the planning inspector who, in upholding the refusal, felt that the benefits of restoring the mill and waterways did not carry enough weight to override development plan policies.

Mr Clark said he and his wife now felt misled by planning officers' initial comments about the prospects for their application. They were annoyed that planning policy had been changed while the application was being considered. They felt it had been submitted early enough to be tested against policies prevailing at the time.

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