ANOTHER confirmed case of foot-and-mouth disease has been discovered in Surrey this week, just days after the county was given the all-clear. The government has set up a 10-kilometre control zone, centred on the affected farm site near Egham, Surrey, and a pre-emptive slaughter has been ordered. Last week, Surrey County Council announced Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) had confirmed the surveillance zone in Surrey, which includes parts of Haslemere, had been lifted. But, following the latest case of the disease, a Surrey County Council spokesman said discussions with Trading Standards would be taking place to determine the implications for the areas previously in the surveillance zone. The crisis began last month when Defra – following an investigation at a holding near Guildford – announced that test results had indicated the disease virus was present in samples from cattle. In response, a three kilometre protection zone was set up around Normandy and Elstead and a 10 kilometre surveillance zone covering Milford, Hindhead and parts of Haslemere was also put in place. With no new cases for over two weeks, the protection zones around Normandy and Elstead were lifted and merged into the existing surveillance zone on Friday, August 24 . This surveillance zone was lifted at midday on Saturday, September 8, although certain export restrictions were still in force. The latest Egham case comes after Haslemere's MP Jeremy Hunt, this week, voiced his concerns over reports indicating the government was responsible for the original recent foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. The discovery of FMD earlier this year resulted in hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of economic damage to South West Surrey farmers. Following the publication, last week, of two investigations suggesting leaking pipework at the government-owned Pirbright laboratory complex was responsible for the FMD outbreak in Surrey, Mr Hunt, who is MP for South West Surrey, wrote to the Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn, setting out a number of questions regarding the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' (Defra) "incompetence" at avoiding the outbreak and its handling of the situation once it had occurred. Mr Hunt also requested an urgent meeting with the Environment Secretary to discuss the issues highlighted in the letter and to raise the ongoing concerns that constituents have contacted him about. He said: "I want to bring to Hilary Benn's attention the serious concerns held by many local people about why it looks like the government was actually responsible for the outbreak. "These failures have led to the loss of hundreds of livestock, damaged confidence in British farming, and yet none of them needed to happen if procedures had been followed. " In addition to pressing Mr Benn on who, at Defra, is taking responsibility for the department's error of judgement, Mr Hunt also asked: l How Defra can be responsible for regulating the biosecurity on the Pirbright site if it is also the budget holder responsible for paying for that biosecurity. Is there not a clear conflict of interest? l Why nothing was done to the drainage system at Pirbright when problems were identified as far back as 2004. l Why Professor Spratt's report says vehicle movements at Pirbright were "not adequately controlled", particularly in respect of contractors' lorries. l Why it took so long for residents of Elstead, one of the control zones, to find out what was permissible in terms of movement of dogs and horses. l Why it took so long for a decision to close the footpaths in Elstead. Organisers of this Sunday's Hampton Sponsored Ride have announced the event has been cancelled due to the latest case of FMD. The ride, which usually attracts horses and ponies from thoughout Surrey, Hampshire and Sussex, would have started in Elstead. Charities inlcuding Riding for the Disabled and the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice, which benefited to the tune of around £23,000 from the event last year, now look set to miss out on a vital source of funding. Farnham was also fortunate not to have found itself at the centre of the foot-and-mouth outbreak that hit Elstead and Normandy this summer. The virus is believed to have been spread to Normandy farms by mud on the wheels and wheel arches of lorries taking soil from a roadway construction at the institute for Animal Health to be dumped at Compton. But that very same day of exceptional rainfall, lorries from the site were also bound for a topsoil processing company in Wrecclesham and a third site in Basingstoke. The lucky escape for the wider rural area was highlighted by Chris Shepheard, manager of the Rural Life Centre in Tilford which has been maintaining a display about the handling of the outbreak. He also pointed out since biosecurity protocols were inadequate at the time of the outbreak according to the report, all kinds of bugs and viruses could easily have escaped over the past four years and contaminated the whole region. The two reports, published last week by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and Professor Brian Spratt of Imperial College London, both heavily criticised Defra for failing to adequately maintain the research site and undertake much needed repairs. Waste water containing the virus 01BFS escaped and in the heavy rains of July 20 the virus was washed out through a loose manhole-cover contaminating the surrounding soil. For further up-to-date information visit the Defra website at http://www.defra.gov.uk">www.defra.gov.uk or contact the helpline on 08459 33 55 77.
