A COLOURFUL welcome will greet racegoers arriving in York during Royal Ascot next month.

More than 100 festival banners will line the city centre and the main approaches to York during the prestigious race meeting.

However, only metres away from a recently refurbished "Welcome To York" sign, graffiti and litter are still visible.

The replanted sign on the main London-to-York railway line is just outside York Station, but as our photographs show it will not be the only thing to catch passengers' eyes as they approach the city's railway station.

A council spokesman declined to comment on the graffiti.

However, Tony Bennet, of the council's economic development department, said the banners were "designed to create a real festival atmosphere for everyone and to showcase York to the thousands of first-time visitors who will come to the city. We want to ensure that as many visitors return to York in the future".

Approximately 300,000 racegoers are expected to attend the five-day racing festival between June 14 and 18, which runs alongside the nine-day Streets Alive! city centre festival.

The first of the new signs were erected in Tadcaster Road this week, with signs in Bishopthorpe Road, Museum Street, Bootham, Hull Road, Lord Mayor's Walk and the railway station to follow.

Meanwhile, the officer in charge of planning police operations during Royal Ascot has been outlining the challenge that lie ahead.

Superintendent Martin Deacon, head of tactical operations for North Yorkshire Police, said 650 police officers and 1,100 members of support staff would be on duty, both at the racecourse and in the city.

Supt Deacon said: "At Ascot, the majority of race-goers commute daily to the racecourse from accommodation in London. In York, the race-goers will be staying in the city and immediate surrounding area, so our policing operation will need to cover each full 24-hour period across the city.

"Thames Valley Police have a long corporate memory of policing the event year on year. North Yorkshire Police are covering the event for the first time and therefore do not have the advantage of previous operations to work from.

"However, we are well prepared and have been planning the policing operation since December 2003," he said.

The operation includes policing of the city throughout the event, security of the venue, traffic management, communications, a tactical firearms capability, protection of Royal residences, individual Royal visits to other venues within the county and fully co-ordinated logistics.

Supt Deacon said officers from Metropolitan Police, West Yorkshire, Northumbria and Humberside would be drafted in, although normal policing services across North Yorkshire would be maintained through the cancellation of rest-days and annual leave.

Supt Deacon said: "As we approach the culmination of 18 months' work, I am satisfied that in terms of forward planning, everything that can be done has been done. I am now looking forward to a successful event."

Updated: 10:00 Saturday, May 21, 2005