THE peaceful nature of the protests at the fracking site in Kirby Misperton this week has enabled officers to be redeployed elsewhere, police say.

On Thursday, around 25 officers who were due to attend the protest site were instead sent on neighbourhood policing duties elsewhere in Ryedale, including community engagement and high-visibility reassurance patrols.

Superintendent Alisdair Dey, of North Yorkshire Police said: “In recent days we have been able to scale down our resources at Kirby Misperton and redeploy officers, as protest activity related to hydraulic fracturing has been largely peaceful and safe.

“There has been just one arrest this week, on Monday, and we have facilitated several ‘slow walks’ requested by the protest community.”

Police made 26 arrests in September and 40 arrests in October in connection with protests related to hydraulic fracturing at Kirby Misperton.

There has been one arrest to date in November.

This afternoon a protestor climbed on to a lorry near the entrance to the site but Habton Road remained open to traffic.