Countryside paths row intensifies

Ministers want to help tourism while slaughter continues

The government has been told not to force county councils into re-opening public footpaths closed because of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

Ministers say government vets have found no evidence that the disease is being spread by tourists or ramblers and they want councils to relax restrictions in uninfected areas.

But the leader of one county council has accused the government of trying to "bully" local authorities.

Crisis in the UK

Cases confirmed on Saturday: 12

Total confirmed cases: 1,095

440,000 animals due for slaughter

764,000 animals have been slaughtered

498,000 carcasses destroyed

The row comes after the prime minister and other senior politicians stepped up efforts to convince holidaymakers that the British countryside was open for tourists during the Easter break.

Environment minister Beverley Hughes has asked to meet the leader of Buckinghamshire County Council to hear why every footpath and bridleway is closed even though the county is free of foot-and-mouth.

"People in Buckinghamshire may legitimately ask whether this policy is in the best interests of the rural economy of the county," she said.

"I fail to see why footpaths which do not go anywhere near livestock remain closed."

The council fears it could be too early to relax restrictions but deputy leader Bill Chapple said he would take up Ms Hughes's invitation to meet.

'Stop bullying'

"If Ms Hughes is saying she can guarantee that it's safe to open, that there will be no cases, fine, we will open," he said.

"But I don't think that's the case. Foot-and-mouth is rife across the country. We are lucky, we have no cases, and we want to try and minimise the risk of it coming here. We would rather be safe than sorry."

Jim Speechley, leader of Lincolnshire County Council, said there were still plenty of places for people to visit on the coast and in the countryside away from closed footpaths.

But he added: "We want to keep those footpaths closed to stop people walking across farmland.

Longleat safari park re-opened on Saturday

"It's wrong for the government to try and bully local authorities to change their mind."

Cases of the virus continue to grow and vets are trying to establish the origin of an outbreak in Hownam, near Jedburgh, in the Scottish Borders, 30 miles away from the nearest other infected site.

Infection is now suspected on a farm in the picturesque Peak District, raising the possibility that the epidemic has spread to sheep grazing freely on the moors.

Officials have given the go-ahead for a precautionary mass cull of sheep at Spray House Farm, Little Hayfield, which is under suspicion of having foot-and-mouth.

'Benefits amidst crisis'

Infection on the common land of the Peak District National Park, where 500,000 sheep roam, would be extremely serious, not least because of the area's importance in attracting tourists and hikers.

The overall crisis caused by the disease could eventually help the agriculture industry, according to Sean Rickard, chief economist at the Cranfield School of Management and a former NFU member.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there were too many sheep and sheep farmers and that the industry would also have to reduce the number of beef farmers, which could ultimately lead to benefits for those still operating.

The UK's tourism trade is awake, alive and is open

Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam

But NFU president Ben Gill dismissed the theory as "plain claptrap", although he conceded the sheep industry would have to follow the meat industry in re-focusing on the marketplace.

Mr Gill also insisted there had been no over-reaction in the early days of the outbreak and maintained there was a need for balance between access for tourism and disease prevention.

Cabinet Office Minister Mo Mowlam repeated the government's call for people to visit the countryside during a visit on Saturday to The Mayfly pub in Fullerton, Hampshire, a country currently free of foot-and-mouth.

She told BBC News 24 that the UK's tourism trade was "awake, alive and is open", adding that 80% of tourist attractions were open to the public.

Meanwhile, in Devon, the digging of more mass burial pits is beginning on Saturday to hold about 400,000 animal carcasses.

The 18 clay-lined pits will be dug at Meeth Fields, near Okehampton.