Residents in a North Lincolnshire village have been left feeling a little disorientated after a road sign was erected welcoming people to Yorkshire.

The mysterious sign, which can be seen by motorists entering Sandtoft, appeared earlier this week.

One resident said it was about 150m (492ft) from the original Welcome to North Lincolnshire sign – on the same side of the road.

Some have suggested it is the work of contractors unfamiliar with the area.

The local authority, North Lincolnshire Council, said it was unaware of the sign, while the neighbouring authority, Doncaster Council, has yet to respond to a request for comment.

Posting in a local Facebook group, one resident said it appeared the sign had been put up on the wrong side of the road and facing the wrong way.

This approach calculates the total number of jobs at risk in each local area by identifying the number of jobs in each industry in that area multiplied by the estimated percentage of those that have been furloughed on the Government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS). The RSA then divide this by the total number of jobs in each local area to calculate the percentage of jobs at risk.

The top 5 worst affected are all rural in order: Richmondshire, Eden, East Lindsey, South Lakeland and Derbyshire Dales. This shows the disproportionate impact of the virus on rural economies. It is a call to arms for those responsible for economic policy.  We know that rural areas as a consequence of their relative isolation find it difficult to recover from economic shocks and therefore the long term legacy of this trend could well be the hollowing out of rural economies.

By way of a prelude to this deeply worrying list the article tells us:

More than 20,000 people have died from Covid-19 in NHS hospitals and thousands more in care homes. But there are growing concerns about the economic impact of lockdown. Gerard Lyons, Johnson’s economics adviser when he was London mayor, warned on Sunday the UK could be the hardest-hit western economy if it does not unlock soon. 

The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, also called on ministers to start talking to teachers, businesses, trade unions and town hall leaders and open “honest conversations with the public about what new arrangements might look like”. Unions insist worker safety must not be compromised by any changes and questions remain about public appetite for risking a new peak of contagion, but plans to modify restrictions are starting to emerge.