PLANS for a £1.1m revamp of Bedale Station could take a major step forward next week.

Councillors will meet to award a tender for the first phase of the scheme which will see Station House given a complete overhaul.

Officers have recommended that they accept a quote for almost £70,000 to provide a ticket area and travellers information point, a cafe, toilets, covered waiting area on the platform and offices for the operational centre of the Wensleydale Railway.

Later phases will see ten workshops and an exhibition area created. A footbridge will be built to link the station to the town centre.

Regional development agency Yorkshire Forward has pledged £650,000 to the scheme, with £390,000 coming from Hambleton District Council and £100,000 from the county council.

Hambleton's cabinet will meet on Tuesday to decide whether or not to accept the tender, which is almost £10,000 over the council's budgeted amount for the first phase of the project.

Steve Quartermain, director of planning and environmental services, said this means that extra funding is now needed.

"Given that this takes the total costs above the budget of £1,140,000, the tender result also means that additional council funding of £10,000 will be required from the economic development fund to cover the increased cost of the works to Station House," he said.

"Yet further funding may be required once the results of the tender for phase two of the project are known. The budgeted costs also do not provide any allowance for contingencies or unforeseen costs that may be discovered in phase two.

"Once the results of the phase two tender and any additional cost increases are known, a report will be prepared for cabinet for its consideration, prior to any further action being undertaken."

The original plans for the station included a conference centre, but the idea was scrapped in December last year after councillors were told it would be too expensive.

Trains started using the station again last year, 50 years after they had last stopped in Bedale.

The station and outbuildings have been used by the Kerfoot Group for many years. The company is now moving to new premises.