DEVON needs a 'foot and mouth co-ordinator' to tackle the confusion and indecision in the present crisis says Ian Johnson, county spokesman for the National Farmers' Union.
'We had a co-ordinator appointed for the eclipse, someone who had quite extensive powers to take decisions in an emergency. Why can't we have a foot and mouth co-ordinator for Devon? We have a real emergency with two-thirds of the county under restrictions and the whole of Dartmoor a no-go zone.'
Mr Johnson said the problem was that everyone had reacted too slowly to the emergency. He said the Army could have a much wider role, using sappers to lay rolling roads over farmland and dig trenches, and military police to man control points.
Such moves would also help to stop illegal movements of animals. Devon Trading Standards is investigating 200 allegations of illegal movements, as well as cases of people flouting the county-wide public rights of way ban.