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Villagers join the demands for answers
Jul 11 2001
By Robert Brooks, The Journal
Communities which have had dead animal pits and pyres on their doorsteps have joined the call for a public inquiry into the cause and handling of the footandmouth crisis.
People in Widdrington and Widdrington Station, near Druridge Bay, Northumberland, and Tow Law and Quaking Houses, in County Durham, fear they will be left with a legacy which will last for decades.
At Widdrington tens of thousands of dead animals were dumped in nine pits only a few fields away from Widdrington Village and neighbouring Widdrington Station.
Meanwhile, a funeral pyre at nearby Hemscott Hill has left more than 3,000 tonnes of ash from burned carcases, which is currently being taken away in sealed containers.
In Durham, residents in Tow Law have campaigned and demonstrated for months to have the disposal pit closed down while at Quaking Houses, thousands of dead animals were dumped despite local opposition.
The then Ministry of Agriculture later admitted it had exceeded its emergency powers in overruling Durham County Council objections.
Northumberland resident Peter Kull, who sits on the Widdrington community liaison committee, said people living in villages along the Druridge Bay coastline deserved a full explanation.
"The main concern in all the villages - Widdrington, the Station, Cresswell and Ellington - is why they picked these sites, especially the ash site, which is between two nature reserves," he said.
"The authorities clearly didn't do their homework. They failed to recognise the direction of the prevailing wind, which meant smoke blew over our homes, and we question the accuracy of any risk assessment which was carried out."
Widdrington campaigner Lorraine Donaldson,who is also on the liaison committee, said: "While communications with the ministry are much better now, there are still questions remaining that can only be answered by an independent inquiry. We need facts, and not ifs, buts and maybes."
Berwick Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith, whose constituency takes in Widdrington Station, said any inquiry would have to be conducted by an impartial body beyond the influence of Government or the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) - successor to the Ministry of Agriculture.
"A full inquiry is absolutely essential if we are to get all the facts, find out exactly what went wrong and what lessons can be learned from this crisis," he said.
"Quite clearly things did go wrong, and even Defra recognises mistakes were made during the burial of cattle at Widdrington and burning near Druridge Bay.
"Only a proper, independent inquiry will find out what we can only guess about at the moment, but also to show the good work which was also done.
"Only that will give us the answers we need."
Leslie Morgan, who runs a sheep and cattle smallholding at Tow Law House, Ironworks Road, Tow Law, said: "Only a public inquiry will teach us lessons which badly need to be learnt to deal with any future outbreaks of foot-and-mouth.
The mismanagement has been unbelievable. Water supplies have been contaminated because dead animals have been buried in the wrong place. I believe residents have been put at risk because of burial sites in inappropriate places. Yet the Government seems to carry on as if nothing has gone wrong."
Carole Hampson, mother of Christopher, 10, and Craig, eight, led protests against the burial of 40,000 sheep yards from her home in Quaking Houses, near Stanley. She said: "There needs to be a public inquiry to find out the truth. We had so many contradictory statements from Maff, when it was Maff.
"They claimed they had the power to bury the carcases at the site, and then they admitted they didn't. There have been so many mixed messages you don't know who or what to believe. Maff later admitted it had - inadvertently exceeded its powers - in overruling Durham County Council, which owned the land at Quaking Houses, and dumping the carcases there."
Independent Durham county councillor John Shuttleworth said: "There has been an unbelievable catalogue of errors.
"A public inquiry would not necessarily help the people in rural communities like Weardale who have suffered, and who are still suffering, this time around, but it would certainly help in avoiding making the same mistakes should an outbreak occur again."
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North East regional news from the Evening Chronicle, The Journal and the Sunday Sun.
