HL Deb 09 December 2002 vol 642 cc14-5WA
Lord Inglewood

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they believe that county councils such as Cumbria County Council which have been seriously affected by foot and mouth disease should seek to establish a forum in which the public sector agencies covering environment and health would meet on an annual and more frequent basis; and [HL70]

Whether they believe that, where appropriate, county councils such as Cumbria County Council which have been seriously affected by foot and mouth disease should build on the foot and mouth disease task force model and create similar, but smaller, groups to help take forward initiatives related to the county's post-foot and mouth disease recovery and regeneration; and [HL71]

Whether in counties seriously affected by foot and mouth disease they will encourage the relevant development agencies and county councils to build on existing initiatives to establish an intensive programme of regional economic monitoring that will provide the detailed up-to-date data necessary to allow business support initiatives to be targeted to the needs of economic regeneration; and [HL101]

Whether they will encourage county councils in counties seriously affected by foot and mouth disease to build on the work of the Restriction Review Team to establish regular meetings between responsible bodies and key stakeholders to develop methods and policies to protect and enhance countryside access. [HL103]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)

It is for individual county councils, in partnership with regional development agencies and other regional and local partners, to decide how best to take forward the continuing recovery from the effects of the foot and mouth outbreak, including countryside access. I welcome the example which has recently been set by the Cumbria County Council and North West Development Agency in creating the Cumbria Rural Action Zone arrangements for coordinating and monitoring a major programme of rural regeneration in the county.