A VITAL financial advice service for residents in some of the most remote parts of North Yorkshire is to close.

The Money Advice Service run by Richmondshire Citizens Advice Bureau will close at the start of next month after a hugely successful period.

The National Lottery, which has funded the popular project for the past six years, will not be renewing its grant aid and an application for European Union money has also been turned down.

The service handles more than £1.3m of debts for clients throughout the area's market towns and the most isolated parts of the dales.

Its closure means that there will be only one fully trained money advice caseworker in the whole of North Yorkshire. The funding for that scheme is also due to expire in March next year.

However, the bureau has enjoyed some success with the news that extra funding for its outreach service has been approved, allowing that project to continue.

A spokesman said: "The outreach service enables a fully trained advisor to reach the residents of Richmondshire who, for reasons of disability or lack of rural public transport, cannot visit the bureau in Richmond.

"In a survey earlier this year, of people who used the service, only three per cent said they could contact another organisation for advice if the Citizens Advice Bureau did not provide an outreach service."

The support provided by the service will continue to cover residents of Richmond, Hawes, Leyburn, Catterick Garrison and Colburn.

Cash from several organisations, including Lloyds TSB and North Yorkshire County Council, has been pooled to cover part of the costs of the service.

The bureau has also managed to recruit several new volunteer advisors, some of whom are to begin their training later this month.

For further information on becoming a volunteer, contact the bureau at 23 Newbiggin, Richmond, or telephone (01748) 823978. It is open on Mondays and Tuesdays from 1pm to 4pm, and Thursdays and Fridays from 10am to 1pm.