WITH the whole of the UK clear of new cases overnight - there have been only two new cases in the country since Monday - the Yorkshire Dales National Park announced it had been awarded an extra £100,000 to help fight the aftermath of the FMD crisis.

The money has been given by Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, and the national park plans to spend it in two £50,000 tranches.

Half will be made available for opening up the countryside and will fund:

• additional ranger staff on the ground

• the use of voluntary wardens to promote public access in the national park;

• the development of an alternative events programme for visitors to the national park; and

• widely available promotional material to inform the public of where they can walk, cycle and ride in the park.

The other £50,000 will fund a number of projects designed to improve the environment including:

• sustainable farming pilot project to reintroduce hardy cattle breeds for conservation management purposes on farms that have had their stock culled;

• funding farmers to undertake dry stone walling projects on their farms;

• And planting landscape trees.