PYLONS campaigner Rosalind Craven was devastated today after losing the final round of her "David and Goliath" battle against National Grid.

A High Court judge refused the 61-year-old widow leave to appeal against a judgement allowing the company to build three pylons on her land at Home Farm, Huby, near Easingwold.

Mrs Craven had argued that National Grid had not given landowners affected by its scheme to build a power line across the Vale of York proper notice of its intentions to build the pylons.

Lord Justice Brooke said yesterday he had sympathy for Mrs Craven. "Nobody would wish to have constructions of this kind placed on their land," he said.

He said she had taken the wrong route through the legal system. She should have sought judicial review of the pylon construction plans, but the three-month time limit which applied to such applications had long since expired.

"Mrs Craven cannot now raise the complaints she could have raised then to challenge the decision that was made.

"She claims that, as a citizen without legal representation and without the resources that are available to National Grid, it would be understandable and ought to be forgivable that she did not challenge the decision within the statutory time limit of three months.

"Unfortunately, our public law does not work in that way.

"National Grid have gone through the necessary statutory procedures and have the necessary consents. For those reasons there is no real prospect of success and I dismiss this appeal."

Now Mrs Craven is facing a bill for costs running into tens of thousands of pounds. The exact amount to be paid will be set by a district judge at a future hearing.

Speaking outside court after the hearing, Mrs Craven said she was "devastated" by the ruling.

She added: "These pylons will ruin the farm. This is a sad day for us."

Updated: 11:22 Thursday, May 01, 2003