TAXpayers are facing a £1.1 million bill for North Yorkshire's fight against foot and mouth.

The cost to North Yorkshire County Council does not include the cost of staff diverted from their usual jobs to tackle the crisis.

And the high-profile buffer zone set up around outbreaks in Thirsk is expected to cost another £40,000 - with that cost being picked up directly by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The Government has said local authorities will be able to claim back cash spent on the disease.

But county council chief executive Jeremy Walker said: "The situation is complicated by outstanding claims for the autumn floods and the Great Heck train disaster."

Gordon Gresty, the authority's director of business and consumer services, said: "It's really an accountancy issue.

"Because we have had three major disasters, and because the claims are over 2000 and 2001, it complicates things.

"We are hoping to get the vast majority of the money back but, until this is clarified, we cannot be certain."

Mr Walker said: "As the county continues to be profoundly affected by foot and mouth disease, the short-term impact on the rural economy has been severe and dramatic.

"The long-term effect is unpredictable, but certain to be very serious. There are important resource matters to be pursued with central government."

Leading members of the county council will meet for an update on the crisis on Wednesday.

They will hear that the Thirsk area is still considered a national hotspot for the disease, along with Penrith and the Brecon Beacons.

They will be told the total number of cases being dealt with in North Yorkshire, as of August 7, was 133.

Councillors will also hear that checks on farms in the bio-security zone around Thirsk have revealed 68 infringements, with eight individuals being reported for prosecution. Offences include a lack of foot baths available at farms and a failure to properly clean and disinfect vehicles. Estimates suggest that £40 million has been lost to Yorkshire's rural economy, and that 500 to 600 business will fail before next spring. Village pubs and shops are most vulnerable.

Meanwhile, the county council hopes confusion over whether footpaths are open or closed to walkers will shortly be resolved.

The authority has recently had difficulty giving a straight answer when walkers have rung its rights-of-way officers to ask whether paths are open, despite foot and mouth.

A spokeswoman said uncertainty had arisen in some cases because the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had closed footpaths on some farms, but failed to inform the authority.

But she said the council had met DEFRA officials earlier this week to discuss the communications problems, and she hoped the difficulties could now be resolved.