REDUNDANT farm buildings in the Yorkshire dales are to be brought back to useful life thanks to a £150,000 funding package from English Heritage.

A joint scheme between the Yorkshire Dales national park authority, Yorkshire Forward, MAFF and the Countryside Agency attracted a share of £570,000-worth of grants announced for Yorkshire on Wednesday.

The money is part of a £9m national package supporting 59 projects in the third round of funding for the heritage economic regeneration scheme, which aims to unlock the commercial potential of old buildings.

The dales grant, paid over three years, will fund a scheme linked to the barns and walls conservation programme, which has been running since 1989. It will cover the same area as the barns and walls scheme - Swaledale, Arkengarthdale and Littondale.

"The main change is that it will now have a whole farm holding approach, rather than just identifying individual barns and sections of wall in the landscape," said a park authority spokes-man. "The idea is that we will look at the whole farmstead, targeting groups of different buildings.

"This means that the impact should be that much more and we will be able to deliver more conservation on the ground on specific holdings. This is very good news and a significant boost to our barns and walls project."

A sliding scale of funding would operate, based on the modern day usefulness of the building, and the scheme would be match-funded from various sources likely to include Yorkshire Forward and the heritage lottery fund.

The next phase of the programme in the dales will examine expanding the scheme into Wensleydale.

Mr David Fraser, English Heritage Yorkshire regional director, said: "Studies show that bringing such buildings back to life is a potent catalyst for sparking new life into neighbourhoods. Taken together with the funding offered by our partners, these grants will make a real impact."

Farmers and landowners interested in more details of the scheme should contact Mr Paul Collins, barns and walls officer, at the national park authority on 01969 650456.