BBC News Online: UK: Wales

Report on farm disease 'confusion'

Around 330,000 animals were culled in Wales

A draft report claims the lack of a national contingency plan caused serious problems and that there was confusion over who was responsible for making decisions throughout the crisis.

The WLGA - which represents the 22 Welsh authorities - believes there were serious shortcomings in efforts to control the outbreak which resulted in around 333,000 animals being killed in Wales following the confirmation of 118 cases.

The report calls for the Welsh Assembly to be given full devolution of animal health legislation.

As well as a crippling impact on Wales's agricultural industry, the disease outbreak had a severe impact on another of the nation's leading industries - tourism.

Powys - home of the Brecon Beacons and many hotels, B&Bs and restaurants - was the worst-hit area in Wales during the crisis, with 78 of the 118 confirmed cases of the virus.

New figures suggest those working in the tourist trade will face losses of £280m by the end of the year.

The report, published on Monday, said situations such as this might have been eased if there had not been the confusion over the roles and responsibilities of different organisations - many of whom found the assembly's role unclear.

Now going out to consultation, the report goes onto criticises an apparent early lack of communication between the now defunct Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food and the assembly.

A lack of appropriate advice and guidance in turn left councils feeling they were unable to solve problems.

Added to that, the study claimed, different assembly ministers were giving out conflicting advice on access to the countryside.