THE CLOUD still hangs over the village of Petrockstowe while DEFRA remains undecided about the future of the Ash Moor pit, said the area's county council representative this week.

John Rawlinson said the county council was still awaiting a reply from agriculture minister Margaret Beckett after reiterating its call for a meeting with her about the site.

The authority set a deadline for the whole site, which was built to take 400,000 animal carcasses at the height of the foot and mouth crisis but never used, to be re-instated by March 31 but that seemed very unlikely now, said the councillor.

'It is all a bit depressing really,' he said. 'Mrs Beckett has been offered a video link if a face-to-face meeting was a problem, but we have heard nothing.

'It was put in strong terms that a meeting with ministers should be held sooner rather than later, but it seems to have had little or no effect.'

Mr Rawlinson said DEFRA had decided burial sites were the least preferred option for disposal in any future contingency plan but they were reluctant in reinstating Ash Moor to grassland.

'Personally, I think they are trying to save face — they reacted somewhat hastily without finding out about the high water table and what the environmental impact would be in this area, and now they are living to regret it,' he said.

'They still won't admit that this was the wrong solution in the wrong place and meanwhile a cloud continues to hangs over the village. The local people need to have peace of mind that it will never be used.'

The Ash Moor pit cost £5.6-million to build and maintenance costs are £20,000 a week.