THERE was one new outbreak at Carleton, near Skipton, overnight involving 211 cattle and major new developments came on the political scene.

In London, Skipton and Ripon MP David Curry, who was chairman of the parliamentary agricultural committee before the election, had a long meeting with Mrs Margaret Beckett, the new Secretary of State at MAFF successor DEFRA, and put the case for thousands of small non-farming rural businesses hard hit by the crisis.

Mr Curry warned that whilst some farmers were receiving very large compensation cheques, he feared that there could be a backlash from non-farming business people whose grants were very much smaller - and most had yet to be paid.

He also pressed for the creation of a new bank holiday in late autumn - a subject already under discussion - to allow businesses like hotels, pubs and restaurants to claw back some of the profits they had lost this spring and early summer.

His warning came as there were threats of mass-trespasses on closed public rights of way in the Dales to highlight the plight of small business - and Yorkshire Forward, the Yorkshire and Humberside regeneration agency announced the first relief grants in North Yorkshire.

The grants, usually £2,000, have gone to hotels and guesthouses, craft businesses, childrens' nurseries and village stores. They include Amerdale House Hotel at Arncliffe, Littondale, where visitor numbers were 70% down over the late May Bank Holiday and Layhead Farm Cottages at Rathmell, Settle which have virtually no bookings after the end of August.