VILLAGERS have been left disappointed following crunch talks on a vital bypass.

Members of Burn Parish Council have been told regional development agency Yorkshire Forward will meet more than 35 per cent of the costs of a proposed £7.6 million bypass around the village.

But only if a £1 billion science park gets the go ahead and North Yorkshire County Council can find an additional £4.8 million funding for the bypass scheme.

Parish council chairman Gordon Holmes met representatives from Yorkshire Forward and the county council's highway's department at the Civic Centre, in Selby, last month.

"The bypass seems to be getting further and further away," he said.

Villagers have been calling for a bypass around the village, taking traffic off the busy A19, which runs through Burn, for years.

Plans have been drawn up by the county council, and all that remains to be done is buy the land and build the road.

But escalating costs and a Government restriction on funding for future road building has delayed the scheme.

Yorkshire Forward became involved with the bypass scheme as part of the region's bid for the European Spallation Source (ESS), a scientific facility that would bring up to 2,000 jobs to the Selby area.

But hopes of locating the facility at Burn Airfield took a body blow last month after outgoing Science Minister Lord Sainsbury cast doubt on the site's suitability.

"North Yorkshire have decided not to do any more work on the bypass without this £2.8 million from Yorkshire Forward," said Mr Holmes.

"They're reliant on that funding. Work was originally scheduled to have started by now.

"But then it was put back to autumn 2007, and since then it's been put back another 18 months, so it'll be 2008 or 2009 before anything happens.

"The whole thing seems to be slipping."

But Selby MP John Grogan, who attended the meeting, remained upbeat about the scheme.

He said: "Although the project in Burn is surrounded by uncertainty at the moment, I am hoping that a degree of clarity will be achieved in 2007.

"Hopefully, the question of whether Burn is still in the running for the ESS project - or indeed any other scientific investment - will be answered in the next 12 months."

A Yorkshire Forward spokeswoman declined to comment.