RIGHTS of way in parts of North Yorkshire hit by foot-and-mouth disease are to remain closed after the government reached an agreement with the county council this week.

Councillors last week lobbied for a blanket closure of public footpaths and bridleways in the county after the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted all rights of way should be re-opened by today.

On Thursday of last week, Westminster ordered about 80pc of all rights of way in the county to be re-opened, but agreed to their continued closure in four main areas of North Yorkshire. The first is a substantial patch covering the entire North York Moors national park as far west as the A167, running down to about 10km south of Thirsk.

The second and third areas cover much of Wensleydale and Bishopdale, taking in the Settle rectangle and running to just beyond the south and west borders of the Yorkshire Dales national park. The final zone of closures covers the north-west corner of the dales national park where it borders Cumbria.

Localised closures in the 3km protection zones around infected farms will be maintained. These include Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, Patrick Brompton and Bellerby, near Leyburn, Tunstall, near Richmond and Danby Wiske, near Northallerton. Paths and bridleways passing through open-air pig units will also remain closed.

On Wednesday, the government also agreed to close rights of way in the designated bio-security zone around Thirsk. This takes in a large chunk of land bounded by Northallerton, Helmsley, Malton, York, Harrogate and Ripon.

Footpaths and bridleways within this area will remain closed for the time being.

Paths and bridleways re-opened on June 16 to the south of the A170 and east of the A19 were closed again this week and will remain so until Defra's intensive disinfection campaign in the Thirsk zone is completed.

But individual paths within the area will be considered for opening on a risk assessment basis. Those crossing land not used for livestock may remain open - including those through forest, woodland, arable farmland and non-agricultural land.

Mr Jeremy Walker, chief executive of North Yorkshire County Council, said: "While we are pleased that the government accepted the case we made for areas of continuing closure, we nonetheless remain very worried about both the impact on the local economy and continuing outbreaks of the disease.

"We will continue to monitor the situation very closely indeed and will be prepared to close rights of way again should there be a veterinary case for doing so.

"We urge walkers and riders to observe the bio-security guidance which will be on all new signs. The key advice is to keep away from livestock at all times."

Meanwhile, scores of paths were being re-opened across Cleveland this week.

Stockton and Redcar and Cleveland councils decided to ease restrictions made necessary by the crisis.

But visitors to the countryside are still being urged to take precautions against spreading the disease by avoiding contact with livestock and keeping away from paths which remain closed.

Stockton council officers have been working for some weeks to re-open paths which do not pose a risk and nearly half of the borough's rights of way were already open by the time the ban was lifted last Friday.

From Monday, the figure rose to around 80pc.

However, access will stay blocked to the remaining 20pc of rights of way within the 3km protection zones around premises previously infected with FMD, along with those paths leading into such zones.

The council's footpaths officer, Mr Richard Rust, said: "The countryside is steadily re-opening but we are conscious that foot-and-mouth remains a threat.

"We are clearly marking those rights of way which are open with a green notice so they are easy to identify.

"Paths which remain closed are marked with a red notice."

The council has produced a leaflet showing the main paths which are open and closed and these are available from Stockton tourist information centre, visitor sites and other public buildings around the town.

Redcar and Cleveland council announced revised plans on re-opening footpaths after talks with government vets.

By today, all paths in Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Brotton and the urban areas around Eston will be open, signified by new green and white signs.

Paths already open elsewhere in the borough will stay accessible but no other paths are being reopened at this stage.

The move follows advice from Defra vets after talks with the council highlighting concerns on how to limit the spread of the latest Esk Valley outbreak