CONSERVATION issues across England's largest county have been given a fillip with the appointment of a new countryside officer.

Sue Bragg is the first of four area-based countryside officers who will be appointed in North Yorkshire to provide a basic level of countryside management advice.

Coming from a farming background in Devon, she previously worked with the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. She said: "I plan to work closely with farmers, landowners and rural conservation bodies to get projects off the ground which will help preserve the rural nature of North Yorkshire.

"Anything which will benefit the landscape and bio-diversity will be encouraged. I can also find appropriate funding for schemes. There needs to be a co-ordinated approach to any conservation work."

Sue's main area of attention will focus in and around the Vale of Pickering and the wolds in Ryedale, and one of her first schemes involves working with the community to put up a number of nest boxes in a wood near Malton.