SHEEP farmer Mr Robin Raine is the new Wool Board member for the English North region.

Mr Raine, who runs Swaledale and Blue-faced Leicester flocks in a family partnership on 4,000 acres at Kirkoswald, Penrith, has been a regional representative for Cumbria since 1999.

He is one of nine producers elected to the Wool Board, following its restructure which reduced the number of producer members from 11 to nine.

Mr Raine's new region comprises Cumbria, Durham, Lancashire, Westmoreland, and the East, North and West Ridings of Yorkshire.

A member of a well-known farming family in the North-West, he is involved in a number of agricultural activities.

He paid tribute to his opponent, Mr William Oliver, who represented North-East England on the old board. "I am very pleased to have been elected and proud to succeed William Oliver, who was a loyal and hard working member of the Wool Board and served producers well," said Mr Raine.

He intends to seek every opportunity to meet producers in the enlarged region .