Cash lifeline for market towns
September 19, 2001
North-East market towns struggling to cope with the growing countryside crisis are to get a cash lifeline.
Five towns in County Durham and East Cleveland and seven in Northumberland will benefit. Barnard Castle, Middleton-in-Teesdale, Crook, Stanhope and Guisborough will share £1.36m.
Local people and organisations will be asked to carry out a detailed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of their communities and then draw up action plans with specific projects to attract funding.
Similar community partnerships in Berwick, Seahouses, Wooler, Alnwick, Morpeth, Haltwhistle and Hexham will be able to bid for a share of the £1.5m earmarked for Northumberland.
The project will help rural areas recover from the devastation caused by foot-and-mouth disease and the more deep-seated problems of lack of investment and population decline.
Another two cases of foot-and-mouth were confirmed in the North-East crisis zone yesterday - one of them among a herd of prize-winning cattle. The Blonde D'Aquitaine cattle herd from Juniper House, Low Juniper, just outside Hexham, was the 27th case to be confirmed in the south-west Northumberland hotspot.
The other case was confirmed nearby at The Lee, Juniper House, in cattle belonging to Mrs A J Tweddle.
A further 154 farms have been culled in an effort to stop the spread of the disease.
Defra yesterday lifted foot-and-mouth restrictions on 7,000 premises in North Yorkshire and north-west England.
September 17, 2001
Government officials trying to halt the spread of foot-and-mouth in the county have closed two roads in Cumbria.
Two minor roads linking Little Asby with the Lune Valley between Tebay and Kirby Stephen will be out of bounds for two weeks. It is only the second time such action has been taken in the eight months since the disease was first identified in Cumbria.
Only people who live in the handful of farms and houses along the roads, and those on essential business, will be allowed to pass after their vehicles have been disinfected.
The move follows the discovery of two new outbreaks on the edge of the area known as the Penrith Spur where tens of thousands of animals have been culled over the past three months.
Farmers there have been unable to sell or move stock since February.
Two new cases of foot-and-mouth disease were reported in the Hexham area at the weekend. At Hagg Wood Farm, Steel, 101 cattle and 200 sheep have been destroyed and at Lowes Fell, Lowgate, 117 cattle and 960 sheep were condemned.
The new cases were announced as a vet branded measures to control the outbreak as inadequate after he discovered that a popular route to Scotland has no biosecurity measures to stop disease spreading.
He said anyone travelling to Scotland through the North Tyne Valley could do so without meeting any kind of barrier to prevent transmission of the disease to other flocks and herds.
Scotland has been announced officially free of foot-and-mouth and the last infection restrictions there have been lifted.
Defra conceded last night there was no public disinfection point on the road itself and said it would carry out a full risk assessment.
Just over a week ago farmers were outraged to learn disinfection points had not been manned 24 hours a day for at least eight days following the re-emergence of the disease in the Allendale area.
More water samples were taken at the weekend from a burn near a foot-and-mouth burial pit in County Durham. Locals fear East Hedleyhope Burn at Cornsay Colliery has been contaminated by leaks from the Inkerman burial site at Tow Law, where 40,000 culled animals are buried.
World experts in the disease gathered in Cumbria at the weekend and for vaccinations to be brought in to replace slaughter policy.
The group was due to meet Government chief scientist Prof David King in London today.
Drivers have pulled down a fence intended to stop the spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Allendale, Northumberland. A concrete barrier has now been put up instead on the C294 at Dryburn Moor. The original fence was intended to stop sheep roaming from unfenced moorland onto an infected farm. It is thought drivers took it down to avoid a detour.
September 13, 2001
A heavily contaminated pressure washer has been stolen from the foot-and-mouth mass burial site at Tow Law in County Durham.
Government officials fear the machine, which has been used on infected premises, could spread the disease further.
Police and consumer protection officers are patrolling the edge of the foot-and-mouth restriction zone in County Durham to make sure farmers are not moving animals, feed, milk, silage or slurry. Farmers failing to comply with the control measures face possible prosecution.
The so-called 'Blue Box' zone includes the area north and west of Stanhope and north of the A689 up to the borders with Northumberland and Cumbria.
September 11, 2001
A disinfection point may be set up on the main trans-Pennine A66 route to stop more foot-and-mouth disease spreading from Cumbria into County Durham.
Teesdale District Council, the National Farmers' Union (NFU) and the police were meeting Durham County Council highways department today to discuss the possibility as Durham dales farmers grew ever more nervous of the virus spreading.
Farmer William Steele is fighting to save his livestock on the 3,000-acre East Stainmore Common at Palliard, near Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, which spans the Durham border.
No new cases of the disease were recorded yesterday
September 10, 2001
Prime Minister Tony Blair has pledged to give the people of Tow Law a closure date for the foot-and-mouth mass burial site in their village.
Almost 45,000 carcasses have been dumped there - 10,000 of them last week following new outbreaks in Northumberland.
People living in the village have protested at the site and say it is so close to some homes that they can see the carcasses being unloaded from lorries.
Mr Blair's agent, John Burton, has told them that the Prime Minister is trying to get a definite date for its closure.
Two new foot-and-mouth cases were confirmed in Allendale over the weekend bringing the total in the recent outbreak in the area to 21. Four new cases were also confirmed in Cumbria.
September 3, 2001
Protesters have returned to a mass animal burial pit in Tow Law, County Durham. The grave at the Inkerman site was re-opened yesterday after a case of foot-and-mouth disease was confirmed at Newbiggin Farm, Blanchland, on the County Durham border with Northumberland.
The latest confirmed case - the 17th in the latest cluster of outbreaks - also led to the extension of the exclusion zone for the second time in as many days.
People living in Tow Law have fought a long-running battle to get the burial pit closed. It is near a school and local people say it is a health hazard.
Foot-and-mouth has been confirmed at more than 2,000 farms since the outbreak was first discovered in Britain in February
August 31, 2001
The army will join the fight against foot-and-mouth disease in Northumberland this weekend after three more cases were confirmed overnight.
Almost 18,000 animals have been slaughtered or are due for slaughter since the re-emergence of the virus in Northumberland. Twenty five soldiers from the 101 Northumbrian Royal Artillery Volunteer Regiment will be deployed over the weekend to help oversee the process.
One of the new outbreaks, at a farm at Fourstones, Hexham, is outside the 'blue box' restricted zone which covers 400 square miles of the Allendale Valley. The biosecurity zone will now have to be extended. All vehicles coming into the zone are disinfected and there are strict rules on animal movements.
Food and Rural Affairs Minister Lord Whitty was visiting the emergency disease control centre on the outskirts of Newcastle today to meet vets and staff battling to contain the disease.
August 30, 2001
People living near Hamsterley Forest breathed a sigh of relief last night after it was confirmed that the nightmare of foot-and-mouth had not returned to their community. But it was revealed that the Army is on standby to help the mass slaughter of beasts infected with the disease in Northumberland.
The County Durham farmers - who were at the centre of the outbreak in spring - had feared the worst after the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said a sheep had tested positive. Further tests showed this had been a mistake.
There were no new cases reported in the Allendale area of Northumberland yesterday but John Bradbury, regional operations director of Defra, said the Army may still have to be called in.
Vets and slaughtermen have been stretched to the limit in their grim task of killing more than 1,000 of cattle and 6,400 sheep.
There have been renewed calls for vaccination against the disease after the Government's countryside advisor, Ewen Cameron, predicted mass slaughter would not be tolerated by the public in future.
August 29, 2001
Foot-and-mouth disease is threatening the entire fabric of rural life in the UK, says a report published today.
The Countryside Agency estimates the virus has cost the economy about £4bn this year and says some parts of the country may never recover. The State of the Countryside report indicates that the biggest losses were suffered by the tourist industry as the number of foreign visitors to the UK plummeted.
It says the problem will speed up the loss of local services and force many young people to move away from their villages to urban areas because of a lack of local jobs.
The Government today announced a relaxation of the rules governing the movement of animals - despite the total of cases in the new Northumberland outbreak reaching 13.
Seven Scottish farms have also been put under tight foot-and-mouth restrictions following contact with a contaminated farmer from the North-East of England.
August 28, 2001
Five more cases of foot-and-mouth disease were confirmed in Allendale, Northumberland, yesterday taking the total number of outbreaks since last Thursday to eleven.
Security arrangements in a 400-square-mile 'blue box' exclusion zone around Hexham were being tightened last night, with people being advised to avoid the area unless their trip was absolutely necessary. Disinfectant mats are being placed at 11 roads entering the Allendale area.
Yesterday's confirmed cases included Low Mill, Allendale, where 78 sheep, 101 lambs and three cattle were slaughtered and Broadwood Hall where there are 125 cattle and 1,200 sheep.
In all, more than 1,000 cattle and 5,500 sheep have been killed or are awaiting slaughter in the Allendale area since the outbreak began last Thursday.
Carcases are being rendered and disposed of outside of the North-East.
Investigations are still continuing to find the source of the outbreak, which is likely to have come from either movement of animals, people or machinery, or from the disease lying dormant in the area for some time.
Police patrol new infected area
August 27, 2001
A cluster of foot-and-mouth outbreaks in the North-East was threatening to spiral out of control last night as the number of new cases rose to six.
Strict controls across a 400 square mile area around the infected farms came into force at the weekend. Licences for the movement of animals were rescinded and stringent measures, including Keep Out signs and disinfectant use, were put in place at farm entrances. The farms are: Stone Hall Farm, Catton, Nettle Hill Farm near Allendale, Taylor Burn Farm between Hexham and Alston, The Hope, Peek Riding and Glenhill Farms, all in Northumberland.
Northumbria Police officers are patrolling the area to prevent breaches of the rules.
Communities near Hamsterley in County Durham were also on alert after Defra confirmed a routine blood test of sheep had revealed a positive result. The animals are being re-tested.
The source of the cluster in Northumberland is a mystery. However, two of the affected farmers are thought to have bought animals from Hexham market. The mart will voluntarily close tomorrow.
Farmers in Upper Weardale, who say they have had to endure 'siege-like conditions' for the past six months, described the latest outbreaks as 'absolutely terrifying'.
Killhope, the North of England Lead Mining Museum in Weardale, is four miles from the latest outbreak. A spokeswoman said the news was devastating because things were just beginning to look up.
August 24, 2001
Government scientists have confirmed a new case of foot-and-mouth disease in Northumberland. It is the first case in the region for nearly three months and has sparked fears about the disease.
Three cows and their calves which were showing signs of infection were slaughtered on Thursday night at a farm near Hexham, said a spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The remaining animals on the farm will be slaughtered today.
The news comes just days after the first live UK cattle auction since the outbreak of the disease was allowed to take place in the Orkney Islands.
Experts have already warned the disease could drag on for many months. It will spread more easily as the weather gets colder.
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read on
Lake District roads closed
Contaminated machinery stolen
A66 disinfection plan
Tow Law burial site pledge
Tow Law mass grave re-opens
Army moves in
Army on standby for mass cull
Rural life 'at an end'
New outbreak takes hold
Police patrol new infected area
Disease on the march again
Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Sue Kelly. TASTES OF. . .