The team behind plans to reinstate a dam on an Upper Wharfedale beck have spoken of their sadness after the scheme floundered.

A proposal to provide hydroelectric power by resurrecting the dam in Kettlewell Beck has been turned down by the Environment Agency which claimed it could increase the risk of flooding.

The decision means Kettlewell Hydro Electric Light Limited (HELL) has been closed down.

The group wanted to bring back a dam similar to the one that provided the village with its electric power until the National Grid arrived in the late-1950s.

Chris Beazley, chairman of HELL, said that more than a year’s-worth of daily monitoring of river levels by a team of six people, including the local vicar, had been in vain after the organisation was informed of the decision.

The Reverend Peter Yorkstone, vicar of St Mary’s Church in Kettlewell, said: “Although there is sadness and regret, we’ve had a lot of fun paddling around in wellies to measure water flow to see where we could generate enough electricity.”

Mr Beazley said: “It was a community-based scheme that would have allowed us to sell sustainable energy back to the National Grid.

“The reason given by the EA for refusing the resurrection of the dam was that it would create a flood risk, even though the proposals were for the same height and location that had existed for more than 100 years.”

Mr Yorkstone, a former mechanical engineer and designer of eco-friendly electric cars, led a gathering at Kettlewell Beck last Thursday to mark the end of the project.

Mr Yorkstone admitted the cost of the civil engineering work to set up the project could have ended up exceeding the money raised from the electricity generated.

Although the Kettlewell hydro scheme did not work out, Mr Yorkstone remained upbeat about the viability of other hydro projects.

“There are several places up in the Dales that could work. People should look around their own areas to generate green energy in their own back yards.”