Understand links, says National Trust
Understand links, says National Trust
THE National Trust has called on the government to adopt a greater understanding of the link between farming and rural prosperity.
It believes ministers must take a wider view of the link between farming and the prosperity of the countryside.
The trust is the nations largest farmer, managing 275,000ha (679,500 acres) of land across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Tenants of the organisation lost nearly 50,000 sheep and cattle a result of foot-and-mouth and the charity lost £4.5m due to extra costs and a drop in visitor numbers.
Peter Nixon, director of conservation, said the failure of government to plan beyond the interests of agriculture made a bad situation even worse. "The National Trust seeks a new approach to disease control and to farming policy as a whole which recognises the importance of a well managed countryside to everyone."
The trust has told the Lessons Learned inquiry into F&M that the blanket closure of rights of way damaged the national economy and the countryside. Contingency planning needs explicitly to address public access issues and the impact on tourism, as well as disease control, it claims.
It has also criticised the lack of an effective contingency plan and a failure to seriously consider targeted "ring fence" vaccination.