A MAJOR police operation that has been almost two years in the planning will swing into operation next week when the region hosts its biggest sporting event.

The temporary move of Royal Ascot to York has created a unique set of circumstances for the police to respond to.

During the five-day meeting, 650 police officers and 1,100 support staff will be on duty at the course and in the city, although senior officers have pledged it will not be to the detriment of policing in the rest of the county.

The head of tactical operations, Superintendent Martin Deacon, said: "At Ascot, the majority of racegoers commute daily to the racecourse from accommodation in London.

"In York, the racegoers will be staying in the city and immediate surrounding area, so our policing operation will need to cover each full 24-hour period across all of the city.

"Members of the Royal Family will be in attendance throughout the duration of the meeting. At Ascot, they stay at Windsor Castle which has full, firmly-established royal protection plans.

"At York, specific new protection plans have had to be prepared for each location hosting members of the Royal Family."

The scope of the operation includes the policing of the event and the city, searching and security of the venue, traffic management in conjunction with the local council, and a fully-integrated communications system. It also includes a tactical firearms capability, protection of royal residences, individual royal visits to other venues within the county and fully co-ordinated logistics.

North Yorkshire officers will be supplemented by others from the Metropolitan Police, West Yorkshire, Northumbria and Humberside.

The ambulance service is also providing extra resources to cope with the anticipated increase in demand that the race meeting will generate.

Five ambulance crews and three senior ambulance officers will be on hand each day at York Racecourse.

An additional ambulance control room is being set up to manage the deployment of resources on site, with links to the main control room in York.

They will work alongside six GPs, three nurses and more than 60 St John Ambulance first-aiders at seven first-aid points.

Extra resources will also be provided around the clock in York and a mobile first aid unit - a converted 50-seater coach - will be sited in St Sampson's Square, York, between 6pm and 3am.