Press Release Issued By
North Yorkshire County Council 
Trading Standards And Regulatory Services

LARGE parts of North Yorkshire have now been declared an infected area by MAFF following the confirmed case of foot and mouth at Raygill House Farm near Hawes.

The area to the west of Ripon, Richmond and Skipton has now been declared an infected area under new orders issued last night (7-3-'01).

For the public, there will be no further restrictions on movement other than those which already apply, but for farmers, this is more bad news.

No farm in the infected area will be allowed to move livestock under the special licensing scheme and any animal vehicle movements through the area can only be by motorway and trunk road.

A number of movement licences have been issued to farms within this new infected area. These were issued before the latest order and have now been revoked.

Officials may not be able to contact all farmers individually but this does not mean that the licences are valid. The revocation is automatic for all farms in the area.

And members of the public are being warned that within the infected area all dogs must be kept under control and preferably on a leash. Stray dogs or dogs not under control can be impounded.

Stuart Pudney, head of trading standards and regulatory services for North Yorkshire County Council said: "While the area is larger than many expected, it does seem sensible. What MAFF has done is to join the North Yorkshire infected area with others to the west.

"On a positive note the majority of North Yorkshire still remains free from this disease despite infected areas on every border. I cannot stress strongly enough the need for everybody to keep out of the countryside and comply to the letter with these necessary restrictions."

We hope to have maps available later today. These will be posted on the county council’s website in the 'Foot and Mouth' section. Alternatively, they can be obtained from the marketing and public relations office.

Trunk roads in the county are: A66, A1, A168, A19, A65, A64, A1079, A1237, A63

A59 (Skipton to Preston only).

8-3-'01