A DAM, constructed in the canal at Skipton to save the town from a deluge of water should the wall between the beck and canal collapse, may stay in place for another six months.

The dam by the Royal Shepherd was put in after the wall behind the castle which separates the beck and the canal began to crumble because of the heavy rain.

The wall has five holes in it, the largest of which is 10 feet long, and if it collapses, the water from the beck will be forced into the canal causing a surge towards the canal basin.

The dam is expected to halt the water and, if the wave rises higher than the towpath, it should force it back into the beck. If it is not high enough, the water will find its way back into the beck via the weir.

Bob Gray, waterways supervisor, said that in the short term the dam would remain until the end of the bad weather. In the longer term it had been suggested that the canal be drained, a ramp built from the dam to the canal bottom and then machinery taken to restore the wall's cracks.

However, because of an expected rise in the water levels during winter, the work will not start until the spring.

Mr Gray said he inspected holes on Monday. "They are slightly worse than they were on Friday, but not by a huge amount. Hopefully the wall will hold out the whole winter."

Elsewhere in Craven the clean up operation has begun.

Tim Wilson, of Cononley's Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream, said the firm could be forced close with a loss of 100 jobs unless he got help to stop his premises flooding.

The factory was devastated by last week's floods when water, six feet deep, destroyed equipment, stock and paperwork.

And in a double blow, his insurance company has said it will be withdrawing flood cover because the firm has claimed twice in the last 12 months.

"Unless we get help from the Environment Agency we don't have a future here," he told the Herald. "This is a major problem for us because we can't afford to stand the devastation costs without insurance cover."

The problems of Cononley were mentioned in Parliament this week by Skipton MP David Curry.

He blamed the floods on the failure of the washland compensation scheme, and asked Countryside minister Elliot Morley to make the village's flood defence restoration a high priority.

In his speech, Mr Curry said: "Does the Minister appreciate that some businesses and households have been told that insurers will cover this disaster, but that their insurance will now cease?

"Is he aware that, for example, the Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream Company and the households and other businesses in and around Cononley are in precisely that position even though the flooding there was partly caused by the malfunctioning of a flood reservoir that was built under a previous flood relief scheme?"

Mr Morley replied: "He is right about insurance, which is why the Deputy Prime Minister has been anxious to take the issue forward in discussions with the insurance companies."

Residents living in Aireside, Cononley, have blamed wooden pallets and other objects in the car park of Yorkshire Dales Ice Cream for making the flooding worse. Eleven homes were deluged, ruining carpets, furniture and walls.

Homeowners claim the pallets backed up against a metal gate, creating a dam.

Mike Armstrong donned a wet suit to tackle the problem and eventually managed to get the locked gate open. "As soon as the everything was free, it turned off like a tap," said a residents' spokesman.

Replying to their claims, Mr Wilson said: "This is a barmy notion. Nobody could've predicted what was going to happen."

In Silsden, residents are calling for relief road plans to be scrapped in the light of this month's floods.

The road is the key to building hundreds of new homes in the town, but residents have warned that if it is built, the road would end up under water if the area floods again.

"We should not be building on floodlands," said Coun Chris Aktinson, Silsden Parish Council's planning chairman.

A spokeswoman for the Silsden Town Action Group (STAG) said: "Do they realise that a significant stretch of the so-called eastern bypass would disappear under water every time there was heavy rain."

As the rain continued into this week, Gargrave School was closed on Monday because local flooding. A school spokesman said they did not want children who travelled by taxis to get stuck.

Meanwhile, staff at Arncliffe Primary School said they had to shut on Monday because the cook could not get to school to prepare lunch. Contingency plans were put into action the following day, with the cook being picked up in a four-wheel drive vehicle.

North Yorkshire County Council has praised the headteacher of Threshfield School, Helen Jarvis, and her staff for the time they spent mopping up and finding makeshift accommodation for students taking exams.

For the first time in 10 years Watershed Mill Visitor Centre, in Settle, had to shut after a torrent of water surged into the building last Monday night.

Manager Richard Whorton said: "For the fourth time since its opening the mill has had to cope with floodwater racing down the road, only this time it entered the building from the rear and flooded 80 per cent of the building."

It is estimated that damage to the car parks and floor coverings will cost thousands of pounds to replace.

Roads and railways are beginning to get back to normal. The A59 has reopened at Kex Gill, but there are still problems on the Beamsley to Langbar road, where a 20metre length was destroyed.

On the A629 at Farnhill, the floods have been blamed on drain culverts. The Palfreyman family were trapped in their home as the water rose around them.

Spokesmen for both North Yorkshire County Council and Halcrow - which looks after the road for the Highways Agency - say the water level in the river was as high as the culverts.

This week Halcrow organised pumping machines to clear the water from the road.

At Bolton Abbey the railway line was flooded and resulted in the cancellation of the village's bonfire.

On Saturday 20 people turned out to try to clear the line, and it is hoped the track will be restored in time for the Santa trains. Until then a reduced service will run between Bolton Abbey and Stoneacre Loop.

Rail services from Leeds to Skipton are still suspended because of flooding at Kirkstall, in Leeds. A spokesman for Northern Spirit said he hoped the services would resume in the near future. Services between Skipton and Bradford have not been affected.

The way Craven District Council handled the floods is to be reviewed by the council's senior management team.

But Coun Beth Graham said she was extremely disappointed that any review would be undertaken by the officers involved.

She called for an emergency working party to be formed to review flooding incidents with a view to identifying failures of drains, culverts, water courses, road design and maintenance and to seek Government funding if appropriate.

Meanwhile, Thornton Hill Residential Home at Thornton-in-Craven, is giving shelter to 20 people from Selby.

Selby has been one of the worst hit areas in the region and the residents of Westwood Home were warned they needed to evacuate the building quickly.

Social services contacted Thornton Hill's manager Sue MacNeall to see if she could help. Part of the nursing home was closed a few weeks ago for refurbishment and staff rallied around to make the beds, clean up and heat the rooms before their guests arrived.

The 15 elderly and frail residents and five members of staff are now settling into their temporary home, unaware of how long they will be staying.