NORTH Yorkshire had been "well and truly short changed" compared with Cumbria when it came to receiving Government cash help to deal with the effects of the foot-and-mouth crisis, it was claimed on Wednesday.

Coun John Blackie, who represents the upper dales from his base in Hawes, told the county council executive that the authority must build up a head of steam in lobbying Whitehall for more money to deal not only with the immediate crisis but with long-term efforts to rebuild the devastated farming and tourism industries.

Coun Blackie, whose Wensleydale area was the first in North Yorkshire to be hit by the disease, said that even if there were no more outbreaks in the county the effects would be felt into next year.

He chairs a small county council working party which concluded that there was a case for more direct lobbying of both the Government and Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, as foot-and-mouth continued its unpredictable course around North Yorkshire.

The authority fears that unless it gets as much help as possible in coping with the multi-million pound costs of foot-and-mouth, flooding and the Selby rail disaster much of the burden will be passed to council taxpayers next year.

Economic consultants have estimated that the Yorkshire rural economy may have lost £40m to foot and mouth between March and May, but the regional tourist board puts losses in the tourism sector higher, at about £1m a day.

In some cases those running guest houses have seen a fall in trade of more than 90pc and visitor attractions have experienced an average 33pc drop in trade.

North Yorkshire, with 133 foot and mouth cases, is the third worst affected county in the country. The pattern of the disease has been different from most other counties, with seven main clusters.

Mr Jeremy Walker, county council chief executive, said that if the basis for Government financial help was to be the number of foot-and-mouth cases, North Yorkshire deserved to be considered for more cash.

Measures to deal with the crisis since March had already cost the authority £1.1m. The intensive biosecurity operation in the Thirsk hot spot area would cost another £40,000 but this would be met by DEFRA.

The county would qualify for emergency Government aid under the so-called Bellwin scheme, which would give 85pc of any claim above the trigger threshold of £881,000, but there were outstanding claims under the same scheme for floods last November and the Selby rail disaster in February.

So far £2.5m in short-term help had been channelled through Yorkshire Forward for one-off business hardship and recovery grants, but this was now "spent up."

By comparison, Mr Walker said, Devon was thought to have received between £4m and £5m, Cumbria between £16m and £20m and the Welsh assemby had voted through £65m for recovery efforts.

About £0.56m had been allocated to the farm business advice service, aimed at farms where animals had been culled, but £1m and £0.8m had gone to the West Midlands and North East regions.

About £4.5m would come from Yorkshire Forward's existing budget to support an economic recovery plan being prepared by partners including the county and district councils, the regional tourist board, the Countryside Agency and the NFU.

Mr Walker said foot-and-mouth would be a main agenda item at today's meeting of the Association of North Yorkshire Councils and concluded: "As the county continues to be profoundly affected by foot-and-mouth 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."

The executive agreed not only to continue lobbying for more financial help but to press for the appointment of a senior Government figure to co-ordinate the fight against foot-and-mouth in the county