AN EMERGENCY meeting has been called by Okehampton and District Chamber of Trade tonight (Thursday) to discuss the growing concern of the foot and mouth crisis and its effect on local businesses.
Local traders and businesses are being urged to attend the meeting at Okehampton Railway Station at 7.30pm which will focus on the ways the area can 're-invent' itself after the crisis is over.
With trade down by 50 per cent in Okehampton and surrounding towns and some tourist establishments on Dartmoor being forced to close, it is becoming clear that the knock-on effects of foot and mouth will cost the region millions of pounds.
Chairman of the chamber Ian Bailey said the two industries Okehampton relied on were agriculture and tourism — both had been devastated by the foot and mouth crisis and both would take a very long time to recover.
'There is a massive drop in trade for accommodation providers — a lot of people are saying that bookings are being cancelled from Easter into the summer,' he said.
'Realistically we are going to have to write a lot of this year off and start from scratch again next year if businesses can see it through until then.'
Mr Bailey said Devon and Cumbria should be made a special case for Government help as they were the counties worst hit by the crisis.
'Directly or indirectly every business has been affected by this,' he said. 'I would like to see the business rates reduced or waived until this crisis is over.'
The chamber chairman said at a time like this it was important to get everyone together and look to the future however bleak it may seem at this moment.
'I have not got any miracle answers but I think we should be looking at the positive aspects of how we can minimise the crisis and not dwell too much on the negative aspects,' he said. 'If we cannot help in the short-term maybe we can in the long-term.
'We have got to re-invent ourselves and I want people to come to this meeting with ideas about how we are going to do that from extending the tourist season through the winter to making demands to the English Tourist Board for some serious promotion for West Devon.'
One premises severely affected by the crisis is Okehampton Youth Hostel, which had to cancel £15,000 worth of business for March alone.
'We are absolutely dependent on Dartmoor, said manager John Elson. 'All our activities are centred on the moor and if there is no access to it no-one wants to come here.'
Mr Elson said he was expecting a group of students from the University of Brighton in April who were conducting a geology study on the moor but that was now very much in doubt.
'We usually get bookings from students and groups of people from Europe and all over the world but this foot and mouth crisis is strangling us,' he said.
'We have spent four years building up the business and this was supposed to be our best year. The plan was to make Okehampton a centre for activities but now something beyond our control has destroyed it all.'
The Youth Hostel Association has closed down 150 hostels in rural areas throughout the country and has estimated that it will lose £2-million this season.
'Obviously, we do not want to spread the disease in any way but the moor must be opened up as soon as possible,' added Mr Elson. "It must not be be closed off for another six months just in case.
'There is a lot more at stake to the local economy than there is to the farming community — there are so many other businesses that are reliant on the tourist industry.'
One of the area's premier hotels and restaurants Gidleigh Park at Chagford said the number of bookings was down by 25 per cent.
'Nobody knows how long this is going to go on,' said proprietor Paul Henderson. 'It is already having a very substantial effect on the business.'
'Everybody is effected by this — the hotels, pubs, shops. If my business is down by 25 per cent it means we are ordering 25 per less milk from the dairy and so on — it spreads right across the economy.'
l All Hatherleigh Shooting Club's events have been cancelled until further notice due to the foot and mouth crisis.
The spring meet for letterboxers at the Dartmoor Prison Officers' Social Club in Princetown has been postponed but it will be re-scheduled for later in the year.
A whilst drive at the Conservative Club in Okehampton due to take place on March 22 has been cancelled.