Preparations in place to protect North Yorkshire's borders

North Yorkshire Police have said they've been planning on how they could monitor our borders to prevent people from high risk areas from entering the county.

It's as West Yorkshire and the North East were included in Tier Two, which is considered as high risk, and North Yorkshire was included in Tier One, which is medium risk. It's thought if more people do venture into the county from high risk areas, the infection rate could increase; leading us into another lockdown.

In yesterday's North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, Supt Mike Walker was asked if our borders would be monitored. He said: "We've been planning this for a long time. Even when we were in the first lockdown.

"What's important to remember at this stage is that the demand for normal services has returned to pre-lockdown levels.

"Previously we had a lot more resources to be able to reassure the public, but we don't have that now. Now we must risk assess each situation to see which breaches and incidents need a fast response.

The seven-day rate for the county as of yesterday is 112 per 100,000 people which is below the national average.

The region currently with the highest infection rate is Harrogate at 147 per 100,000 people, which is above the national average. Scarborough's infection rate has dropped in the last few weeks and is now the lowest in North Yorkshire at 80 cases per 100,000.

"Rest assured we will do our very best and we will have to see what impact having areas which surround us being in the higher tiers will have on North Yorkshire."

Supt Mike Walker, added: "Those people living in those higher tiered areas understand what restrictions are against them and know they should be reducing travel. It's only the minority which will breach those restrictions and absolutely we will be ready to deal with those individuals.

"But it is very hard to police the vast borders we have in North Yorkshire because of the six thousand miles of road we have and the demand which is already on our services."

You can read more about what the new tier system means for Harrogate and the Yorkshire Dales here.