THE go-ahead has been given for the latest plans at a project involving the restoration of an 18th century watermill near Malton.

The plan is too install a reproduction swing bridge spanning a canal near Howsham Mill.

The approval was given by planning officers using their delegated powers at Ryedale District Council.

It will mark the latest stage of the restoration project at Howsham Mill, a few miles south of Malton, which dates back to 1755 but was abandoned in 1947 and, until 2003, was a ruin hidden in trees on a small island on the River Derwent.

The vision of the then newly-formed Renewable Heritage Trust was to restore the building back to its Georgian Gothic glory with a new use as an environmental education centre, generating hydro-electricity from the waterwheel and the first Archimedes screw turbine installed in the UK.

In 2006 the mill was the northern region finalist on the BBC Restoration Village programme.

A Rural Enterprise Scheme grant funded the rebuilding in 2007 of the granary to become the kitchen and house electrical equipment.

RHT was awarded a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund with match funding from the Country Houses Foundation to restore the main part of the building and work started in 2012.

A year later, after four floods and very difficult working conditions, the building was restored to its former glory, as it was when abandoned in 1947.

The Trust aims to make the building totally self-sustaining for the 21st century using revenue from power sales.