THE Government will be pressed to give a clear statement on the future of
the controversial Ash Moor burial pits when a Devon delegation meets Animal Health Minister Elliot Morley next week.
The group will urge Mr Morley for a clear statement that DEFRA does not have any future contingency requirement for Ash Moor.
This move follows negotiations by Devon County Council with DEFRA civil servants and consultants to secure Ash Moor's full restoration.
DEFRA's consultants are currently preparing detailed plans for the restoration along with an Environmental Impact Statement which will go out for full public consultation in the autumn.
Devon County Council's development control committee has agreed in principle to DEFRA's proposals to remove all buildings, equipment, fencing, the tarmac road and hardstanding and restore the site primarily to culm grassland.
Restoration would include the replanting of hedges and woodland, remodelling of two of the pits to create a wildlife pond, creating a new footpath linking the Tarka Trail with the Petrockstowe road and planting a new hedge along the path's southern edge.
The whole site, once restored, would be subject to a ten-year management plan agreed with the county council.
Although formal consultation of the restoration will not start until the autumn, the county council has urged and DEFRA has agreed that work could start during the summer to remove all the buildings, equipment, hardstanding and fences from the site.
The group will also raise concerns of residents in Devon who are having trouble selling properties because of the continued existence of emergency foot and mouth sites for slaughtered livestock — eight months after the epidemic officially ended in the county.
The Devon delegation will be supported by West Devon and Torridge MP John Burnett.