EXTRA police officers will be on duty at Appleby Horse Fair this year, it has been revealed.

It follows a major public outcry last year which some residents branded the “worst ever” after a series of problems in areas surrounding the town.

Crime commissioner Peter McCall has told councillors there will be “significant additional police resource” at the June event.

“The fact is Appleby Fair will run this year, we don’t have the legal powers to stop it and I’m not suggesting we would want to either,” Mr McCall told the Cumbria Police and Crime Panel. “I can’t stress enough that as police and crime commissioner it is not my job to run Appleby Fair. On the operational policing side, Chief Supt Rob O’Connor has been appointed to run that side of it this year, and there will be significant additional resource going into the policing this time with additional CCTV support, and a raft of other things which are not for me to discuss publicly.”

In recent years, the fair was Cumbria’s single biggest policing operation with 200 officers and cost up to £80,000 in overtime alone. Last year’s event saw 115 incidents — the highest in four years — but lower than the 225 in 2011.

Public concerns can also be better aired after the Multi-Agency Strategic Co-ordinating Group (MASCG) allowed three local councillors to join, he said.

The group features police, councils, emergency services and gypsy and traveller representatives  but “co-ordinates” rather than organises the fair.

Mr McCall said the onus was on MASCG to find solutions to those issues which did not require the police.

One of the repeated complaints last year was of sporadic roadside encampments, particularly on the A685 between Tebay and Kirkby Stephen.

Mr McCall said: “ It is not for the police to determine which bit of land people can park on, but it is for the police to enforce the plan. The issue is not whether we move them on, the issue is where we move them to? Where they move them to is where MASCG needs to come up with options. It’s no good just telling people to move, we have to be able to move someone somewhere.”

Panel member Cllr Helen Fearon said public safety needed to come first.

“We had very serious problems last year with highways obstruction and serious crowding on verges and highways that were far too narrow to accommodate such a large amount of people,” said Cllr Fearon, the Conservative councillor for Penrith West.

Cllr Roger Bingham raised concerns that councillors outside the county, including Ingleton and Settle, were not on the MASCG.

Cllr Bingham, the Conservative councillor for Burton and Crooklands, said: “The fair cause issues for all of those parishes on the border between Cumbria and Lancashire.”

Police and crime panel chairman, Cllr Bill McEwan said the fair had “learned from its mistakes”.

The Ormsgill Labour councillor said: “I think the appointment of Rob O’Connor is a good one because he is a first-class officer and we have got the right man for the job there.”

In September, Cumbria Police announced eight recommendations for the fair in 2019.

They included more engagement with the local community, consistent leadership, enhanced staffing, increased supervision and clearer direction.