FOOT and mouth clean-up operations are likely to be halted by up to two weeks while the Government reviews the escalating costs — bringing more misery to West Devon's farmers.

The NFU in the South West has slammed the decision which it says will 'pile on the agony' for farmers who were beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Regional director of the NFU Anthony Gibson, who addressed a rally of 500 farmers at Exeter's Westpoint on Tuesday night, said it was entirely sensible for the Government to review its procedures so public money was not wasted — but there was no reason why it should not have been conducted while cleaning and disinfecting was going on.

'To suspend this work is just piling on the agony for farmers who have already been driven to the ends of their tethers by the disease and its aftermath,' he said.

'There is no suggestion that farmers are to blame for any problems which have been identified and it is grossly unfair that farmers should be penalised for shortcomings in the Government's own procedures.'

DEFRA officials in London say the average cost of a clean-up operation is just over £100,000 but the department's Exeter office claims that in Devon the costs are dramatically lower because farmers were doing the work themselves instead of contractors.

A spokesman for DEFRA in Exeter said the only farms where cleansing work was continuing were those which had a 'pre-agreed and acceptable price'.

He said: 'London are concerned about the apparent escalating costs of secondary disinfecting on farms — however, we do not share these problems in Devon because 90 per cent of cleansing work is being handled by the farmer.'

Okehampton farmer Sandra Heard, whose cattle were slaughtered under the contiguous cull policy in April, said the rigorous cleansing rules were unnecessary.

'It is just a complete nonsense,' she said. 'They are being so picky — we are having to burn all our wood and clean every minute particle over and over again and we have not even had foot and mouth — it's no wonder the labour costs are so astronomical.'

Mrs Heard has accused DEFRA of being in a complete muddle and said it was impossible to get any sense out of anyone.

'This is just the latest in a catalogue of disasters,' she said. 'We thought we were getting to the end of it but who knows now when the nightmare is going to end.'

A DEFRA spokesman in London confirmed that a review would take up to two weeks to complete while they looked at other countries' policies.

Clean-up costs in Europe are understood to be one tenth of those in the UK. One idea in the melting pot is that farmers make a financial contribution towards the work themselves, said the spokesman.

'When the foot and mouth outbreak struck it was a matter of urgency to get things done as quickly as possible, including the disinfecting — now we need to step back and review our policy,' he said.

'There are huge sums of taxpayers' money involved in this and we need to look at what has been spent so far and see where we go from here.'

The Government's foot and mouth bill has so far added up to £2.5-billion.

At Tuesday night's rally, organised by the NFU, farming leaders vowed to put more pressure on the Government for a full public enquiry into the foot and mouth crisis.

National deputy chairman Tim Bennett said the enquiry had to be 'short and sharp'

'Four years is no good — we do not want this problem again,' he said. 'Tony Blair made it quite clear that he was prepared to take charge of foot and mouth and make sure the job is done to the end.

'We will be holding him to that and we will demand a full public enquiry.'

Mr Bennett said the NFU would continue to fight for compensation for farmers who had been stuck on Form D notices for up to six months and were unable to sell their stock.

He said it was essential for consumers to support British agriculture and to buy more British lamb. He urged zero tolerance from the Government on the importation of meat and poor labelling.

l DEFRA calls meeting in Okehampton — see page 2