A LOCAL authority is on the verge of concluding a £1m scheme to secure the future of Bedale railway station.

Hambleton District Council is set to buy the station in an attempt to help Wensleydale Railway to improve transport links across the area.

The authority said the project would also deliver economic benefits to Bedale with plans for offices and working space for businesses in station buildings.

Hambleton said the move would bring major investment to the town and see one of the main objectives in the Bedale and villages community plan finally brought to fruition.

Negotiations about the station have been taking place behind the scenes for several months, but details were only confirmed to the D&S Times by Hambleton on Wednesday.

Passenger trains were withdrawn from Bedale in 1954 and freight services in 1982.

The station buildings have been occupied for almost 20 years by vegetable oil specialists the Kerfoot Group which, it is understood, is planning to move to another site.

Wensleydale Railway began operating timetabled passenger services between Leeming Bar and Leyburn on July 4, but its aim has always been to have trains calling at Bedale.

Coun Ralph Andrew, Hambleton cabinet spokesman on economic development, said of the Bedale station project: "This project will bring together tourist-related opportunities, improved transport links and offices and working space to boost the role of Bedale as a vibrant town centre."

A planning application for the scheme could be made by the end of the year, with conversion work starting next year. The station could reopen for trains next spring if access to and from the main A684 road can be agreed.

Scott Handley, chief executive of Wensleydale Railway, said: "The council will be helping us to deliver our vision of providing both effective transport links up the Dales and a significant tourist attraction.

"Reopening Bedale station will be a great asset for the area, but particularly for Bedale, and go a long way towards our aim to get people from main line trains into the Dales."

John Laity, Bedale Chamber of Trade chairman, said: "This is wonderful news. We are on the route of Wensleydale Railway and now there is potential for bringing trains into the town.."

Mr Laity said of the proposed associated business use: "This development could be one way of improving trade within the town itself and of encouraging businesses to stay in Bedale."

A Hambleton spokesman said the deal could be completed within weeks. The council is buying the station yard and house, the former ticket office and waiting rooms and a former goods shed to which the Kerfoot Group has added other industrial buildings. The single station platform has remained separate and was included in the 99-year lease which Wensleydale Railway signed with Network Rail to run the Northallerton to Redmire line.

Hambleton has submitted an application for funding from the regional development agency Yorkshire Forward.

No comment was available yesterday from the Kerfoot Group.