NORTH Yorkshire farmers were told today that the county will no longer be classed as at high risk of foot and mouth infection.

The county, along with Cumbria and County Durham, will be reclassified as an "at risk" county at midnight tonight, which will lead to the relaxing of restrictions imposed on farmers.

The reclassification follows a massive programme of blood testing of sheep and goats and the clinical examination of cattle across the county, which enabled DEFRA to lift the last 3km protection zones around infected farms last week.

Moving to "at risk" status eases some of the licensing restrictions under which farmers can move stock and enables farmers to move animals in a far greater areas, but licences from the local authority will still be required.

However, those farms that were culled out as infected premises or as dangerous contacts will remain under restrictions until they have completed the cleansing and disinfection process and restocked successfully - or until a period of 12 months since the case was reported has elapsed.

Nafees Meah, regional operations director for Yorkshire, said: "This move puts us firmly on the road to becoming a disease free-county. It reflects a great deal of hard work by teams on the ground and the patience and co-operation that farmers and the wider community have demonstrated."

Updated: 12:27 Monday, December 03, 2001