A KEY survey into the dangers of flooding in the Northallerton area - due next month - will not be finished until April, it was revealed this week.

The Environment Agency survey, called for after the floods of November 2000, will pinpoint areas at risk and recommend prevention schemes.

It was scheduled for publication last September, but the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease meant surveyors could not get to large areas due to movement restrictions on farmland. The agency promised to deliver it by February, but this week admitted it would miss the deadline.

The announcement means further delays and frustration for organisations desperate to start flood defence work. Coun John Coulson of North Yorkshire County Council, said: "I am very concerned because it is holding every mortal thing up. I was extremely disappointed.

"We don't know whether to work on this or that for fear of how it might affect areas further downstream. So many people are waiting for it, people who have had their homes and businesses flooded out and rebuilt.

"They have all been prepared to wait yet the Environment Agency has not come up with the goods."

The delay will have a big impact on the River Wiske Drainage Board, which is charged with the lion's share of defence work in the Northallerton area. The cash-strapped board needs the survey before it can apply for government grant aid to build flood prevention schemes.

And the delayed report has put a stop to burial plots being sold in advance in Northallerton for fears that the cemetery will fill up.

The Northallerton and Romanby joint burial committee (JBC) is awaiting the results of the survey before it proceeds with an application to extend the town cemetery.

The committee has stopped the advanced sales, known as the sale of parchments, to avoid running out of room. Coun Jack Dobson, the committee clerk, said: "The sale of parchments has been put on hold because of a shortage of space - we have got a waiting list."

About 55 people a year are interred in the cemetery, which only has enough space left to last another 18 months.

"All people living in Northallerton and Romanby have the right to be buried in the cemetery, whether we have the space or not - that is the law," said Coun Dobson. "We have stopped the sale of parchments so the cemetery does not fill up as quickly."

Mr Mark Saunders, project manager for the Environment Agency survey, promised the report would be out in the first week of April. "We couldn't get our surveyors on site until the first week in December," he said.