A POPULAR youth hostel, which was threatened with closure in a swathe of cuts a year ago, has been given another stay of execution.

Aysgarth, in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, was among ten premises earmarked for the axe when the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) announced it was having to make cutbacks in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Last January, the charity said it had lost £5m in 2001, and if it did not sell some of its older buildings, a sweeping modernisation programme would be in jeopardy.

However, a spirited campaign proved enough to persuade the board to give Aysgarth another chance.

Local people said that 3,000 stopover nights a year should be proof enough that the facilities were still well used.

As a result, the YHA had agreed to a partnership with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Richmondshire District Council and North Yorkshire County Council, which would try to find the £500,000 needed to cover the cost of modernising Aysgarth before the end of last month.

But money has proved a stumbling block and - with the costs now thought to be as high at £700,000 - a question mark was hovering over the Aysgarth hostel's future when the deadline expired at the end of last week. However, when the YHA board met yesterday, it agreed Aysgarth would be allowed to remain open for the remainder of this year while the hunt for funding continues.

"The board felt that, as applications for grants had been made, we cannot make a decision until the result of those applications is clear one way or the other," said chairman Chris Boulton. But he warned: "We cannot leave this situation indefinitely."

The panel, which decides how European regeneration grants are spent across the region, has also agreed to shelve a decision on funding until next month.

"There appears to be some uncertainty over funding to match an Objective 2 grant," said panel member and Wensleydale district and county councillor John Blackie .

"We have been led to believe Yorkshire Forward may not support the restoration of the Aysgarth Youth Hostel.

"As a result, we have agreed to put off a decision until April 14 when we hope the financial position will be clearer."