Concerns at disease ash removal

Thirty lorries will take the ash from the Epynt every day

Assembly officials have begun moving the cremated remains of thousands of cattle carcases from a mid Wales mountain range.

The 20,000 tonnes of ash will be taken from the Epynt range near Sennybridge to a landfill site in England over the course of eight weeks in an operation involving 30 lorries each day.

The controversial funeral pyre used in the village was so big, it has taken two months for the ash and other materials to cool down, and it will take another two months just to get rid of the remains.

Sealed containers will carry the ashes

But local residents, who hit out at the choice of site used for the disposals near the military range, are not happy - they met over the weekend to discuss the transportation and say they will keep a close eye on the operation.

The assembly has ordered the removal, which will see the ashes being loaded into sealed containers and driven to the landfill.

Safe ashes

The assembly has also written to every house and farm for miles around assuing residents the effort will not be hazardous to their health.

The controversial Epynt site was used to burn upto 40,000 culled animals at the height of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Several residents from Epynt and Trecastle had claimed the dumping of carcasses at the army range had made them ill.

Burials at the site were halted by Rural Affairs Minister Carwyn Jones in April amid fears fluids had leaked into the local ecosystem.

The Environment Agency confirmed that contamination from livestock carcases was found near the burial pit, but burning remained for a time.

Locals said the burial of up to 180,000 carcasses on Mynydd Eppynt would lead to pollution of rivers and watercourses, and claimed the area would become an "ecological time bomb".