A MAJOR injection of cash to help revive a market town's flagging economic fortunes could be on its way.

Council chiefs are hoping to secure funding which could play a big part in the regeneration of Bedale, which they say is the town in greatest need of assistance in the Hambleton district.

English Heritage has invited Hambleton District Council to apply to join the Heritage Economic Regeneration Scheme (HERS), which begins in April.

Officials say a successful bid could bring up to £60,000 a year of extra funding into the town, which contains an increasing number of vacant shops and derelict areas where proposed developments have failed to materialise.

The council would have to match the English Heritage money - which would be handed out over three years - and director of planning and environmental services, Steve Quartermain, is keen for a bid to be made.

He said that £135,000 worth of grants had been ploughed into Bedale since 1989, helping the repair of 30 buildings in the town centre.

But he added: "In spite of this effort the town centre is visibly declining, with the number of vacant shops rising from five to eight in the past year - nine per cent of the total."

A bid to English Heritage would focus on rescuing threatened historic buildings, investing in the revival of areas which are important to future employment opportunities and helping efforts to bring first-floor high street properties back into use.

Mr Quartermain said: "The emphasis of the HERS scheme is on the regeneration of commercial areas.

"For this reason, if Bedale is to be promoted, it is proposed that the scheme would be focused on the Market Place and North End and the streets leading off, since these contain most of the commercial buildings in greatest need of repair."

He added: "English Heritage has a separate grant scheme for churches and grade I and II buildings and Bedale Hall and the parish church would be excluded from the scheme for grant purposes. Grant aid would be targeted towards priority areas and priority buildings, which are those most in need of repair.