FARMERS in the Petersfield area who are struggling with stringent rules over the moving of livestock during the foot-and-mouth crisis have been given a helping hand this week.

A special cleansing centre for lorries carrying animals has been set up in Petersfield's Borough Road after pressure from East Hampshire District Council, the National Farmers' Union and the county council.

Chris Butler told members of the district council's policy and resources committee last week that if animals were to be moved more than ten kilometres, farmers had to disinfect their lorries before and after the move at specially set-up centres.

"The nearest place to do this at the moment is Shaftesbury in Dorset or Hailsham in East Sussex" said Mr Butler, "so a job that might have taken an hour before the foot-and-mouth outbreak can now take most of the day."

He said farmers in the district urgently needed a more local cleansing centre.

The centre has been set up at the premises of Rangway Construction, a Hampshire County Council site in Borough Depot, Borough Road. It was organised by auctioneer and valuer Tom Lofts and the National Farmers' Union.

Mr Lofts told The Herald: "This is a great relief to local farmers who have been having to make long journeys to clean their lorries.

"We are very grateful to Rangway and the county council for allowing the farmers to use their facilities."

Any farmer wishing to use the centre can ring Mr Lofts on 07771 556000 or Simon Trotter on 078999 81901 for details.

The problem facing East Hampshire farmers was not just the long journeys to have vehicles disinfected, but also the fact that they had to obtain licences to move animals, which was also time-consuming.

"Farmers in this are also suffering because they cannot find markets to sell livestock very easily at the moment," said Mr Butler.

Selborne beef farmer David Ashcroft had complained that for him to collect a bull from Preston Candover and take it to Dockenfield, a trip that would normally take around half an hour, he would have had to make a two-hour trip with the animal to the cleansing centre, and then do it all over again when the animal had been dropped off.

He said this would add a costly 400 miles to the journey.

Mr Ashcroft said he would not have a problem with the safety precautions if East Hampshire was a high-risk area.

"But it is not high risk and it must be one of the cleanest areas in the country. It's just crazy."

A cleansing centre has also been set up at Tangmere Airfield in West Sussex. Farmers wishing to use this should contact Arthur Harriott on 01903 883364.

The NFU is hoping that a further site will be found in Milford.