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Suffolk County Council is welcoming the partial lifting of the bird flu restrictions in the county.

DEFRA (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs) has announced that from the 8th December there will be a staggered lifting of bird flu restrictions in Suffolk.

Welcoming the news, portfolio holder for Public Protection, Cllr Joanna Spicer said:

"This is the first small step on the road to recovery for local businesses and residents and bird keepers after what has been a difficult and challenging month for Suffolk. It will take some time before we can talk about 'business as usual'. However with continued bio security from chicken keepers and renewed vigilance from everyone in the county we should be cautiously optimistic that restrictions will be fully lifted by Christmas. What this means in reality is that people can move their birds across the county and so local poultry keepers swill now be able to get their birds to market and birds on the Christmas table at this busy time of year"

The 3km Zone (Protection Zone) around the infected farm near Diss was lifted on 8th December and it will become subject to the same restrictions as the wider 10km Zone (Surveillance Zone) that surrounds it. From Monday 10 December the same restrictions will be lifted on the second premises near Thetford it will also become subject to the same restrictions as the wider 10km Surveillance Zone that surrounds it.

From Wednesday 19 December all restrictions in Suffolk will be lifted. This means that the 10km Surveillance Zone and the wider Restricted Zone that covers the whole of Suffolk will no longer be in place.

What does this mean for bird keepers in Suffolk?

These changes mean that providing there are no further outbreaks, as of :

· 8 December - the 3km Protection Zone is lifted. However, all birds within the 10km Surveillance Zone and the Suffolk- wide Restriction Zone will still need to be housed.

· 10 December - the requirement to house birds is lifted in the Restriction Zone. However all birds within the 10km Surveillance Zone will still need to be housed

· 19 December - the requirement to house birds is lifted in the Surveillance Zone when all remaining zones are lifted

Further details on the restrictions are available on the DEFRA website at: