Tourism decimated by foot and mouth crisis

The closure of all footpaths in the Yorkshire Dales National Park has devastated the tourist industry, with pubs and holiday cottages reporting a huge decrease in trade.

The Craven Arms at Appletreewick has seen an 80 per cent drop in business, and as a result, staff have been laid off.

Now, landlady Linda Nicholson has decided to organise a petition, calling for a reduction in business rates and trade waste payments to compensate for her loss of income.

So far she has 80 signatures.

Mrs Nicholson said: "The Dales are open. This is the message we have to get over. Visitors can still come to the Dales, they can go into the villages and shop or drive around the country roads and stop for a pub lunch. All that is restricted is using the footpaths.

"We didn't have a good summer, then we had the fuel crisis, then the floods and now this. It is more than small businesses can stand. People up here are going to lose their businesses and homes."

Hazel Hunt, who runs the Bluebell Inn at Kettlewell, has also had to lay off all her staff. There is just her and her husband left.

She said: "Normally in weather like this, the pub would be full at the weekends. We have spent thousands doing up bedrooms that are just standing empty.

"This village is about 70 per cent holiday homes in one form or another and the people who come here like to walk. The area is devastated.

"The message given out by the national park is stay away. We are saying if you are on a bike or in a car and want to see the countryside, then it is perfectly acceptable.

"The national park has been indiscriminate about where they have closed. Even if the crisis is over tomorrow, the park will still be closed for Easter."

But a national park spokesman said the decision to close footpaths and bridleways had been taken by the county councils of North Yorkshire and Cumbria.

"Our function has been to inform people of the closures and put up the signs. We need to be responsible and ensure people are keeping off farmland."

There was further criticism from June Elliot, of Langcliffe Country House in Kettlewell.

She said: "The whole of the holiday industry is being treated with disregard during the crisis.

"How dare the National Park officers ask people to stay away, and question their need to visit the area? These people are supposed to be on our side.

"The spin off from hasty, ill-thought out advice will affect the Dales for many years to come and cause ruin and misery to many."

A third of the income for Skipton-based Dales Holiday Cottages has been lost due to foot and mouth.

Managing director Stephen Lodge said the firm had already spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on brochure printing and advertising, but bookings were being cancelled.

"The majority of people who have booked for Easter say that they don't want to come now," he said. "If you take away a third of a business's income than you're putting that business at risk."

Mr Lodge added that the lost bookings also had a knock-on effect for the cottage owners who had mortgages and upkeep to pay.

However a holiday cottage company had a different story.

Steve Foster, managing director of Country Holidays in Earby, said: "By far the majority of people are continuing with their holidays, because there is no reason why they shouldn't.

"We take about 400 calls a day from people concerned about their holidays they have booked with us. Their concerns are driven by the media and the messages that are going out from the press.

"At the moment we are looking after individual property owners and lobbying the Government to ensure that people are properly informed.

"Not everyone who comes to the Dales for a holiday wants to walk."

North Yorkshire County Council has set up a special task force to plan how best to help the rural economy deal with the crisis.

Representatives from district councils, the Tourist Board, the Regional Development Agency as well as MAFF, farming representatives and other interested bodies are being invited to take part.

County council chief executive Jeremy Walker said: "Advice has been given to the public that they shouldn't do anything which is likely to spread the disease. Consequently farmers and businesses are suffering hardship.

"If the situation lasts for quite a long time, it will have a major effect. The county relies heavily on farming and tourism to sustain its economy.

"Clearly we can't advise the public to visit rural parts of the county while the foot and mouth outbreak continues, but we need to plan for the time when the disease has been eradicated."

Meanwhile Labour's candidate for the coming General Election was able to use a planned meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair to raise the effects of foot and mouth on businesses in the Skipton area.

Michael Dugher had a scheduled meeting with the Prime Minister and he urged him to find money to help the local tourist industry.

"The Government has done a lot to help the regions and has given a hell of a lot of new money for manufacturing industry in Yorkshire and former coalfield communities in South Yorkshire but it's time the Government put its money where its mouth is for struggling rural communities like Skipton," said Mr Dugher.

After his meeting Mr Dugher said details of any aid package would have to be worked out and could take the form of business rates relief or emergency tax credits.

"The Prime Minister said that the whole of Government had the seriousness of foot and mouth at the front of their minds and is trying to turn things around, not just for the tourism industry but for farmers and the whole countryside," he said.

Skipton MP David Curry, a former Agriculture Minister, has asked the Government if it intends to compensate for consequential losses from the epidemic.

The MP, in a letter to Agriculture Minister Nick Brown, said that foot and mouth "has long since ceased to be an agricultural crisis and is now a crisis of the entire countryside."

He called for emergency funds to be made available, and also urged the Government to clarify and ease rules for lambing time, pointing out the difficulties of farmers whose flocks had wintered away.

"I am sure good use could be made of the network of local NFU secretaries to try to identify available land which could be used by sheep for lambing and, indeed, it might be possible to use set aside land for this purpose," said Mr Curry.

In other developments, the Herald has received reports of footpath closure notices being torn down.

Chairman of Sutton Parish Council Steve Morrell noticed signs ripped down through the woods which lie between the Hawthorns, Sutton, and Colne Road, Glusburn.

He added: "Also I observed a number of elderly people walking their dogs through the woods on the closed footpaths. It would appear that a significant, selfish minority of dog owners in the area are now putting local livestock at risk by ignoring the closure of footpaths in the countryside."

More notices have been torn down at Calf Hall Road, Barnoldswick, and local farmer James Moles hit out at the culprits.

"We are only trying to protect ourselves," he said. "If foot and mouth comes here, it will finish me. We are doing our best, but these people are trying to undo it."

Craven District Council has introduced a voluntary dogs on lead campaign in Skipton's Aireville Park.

Head of operations Greg Robinson said because of the restrictions more people were bringing their dogs to the park and the situation could get out of control if they ran free.

He said he did not want the animals to get into prohibited areas.

Mr Robinson also asked that dog owners were extra diligent in picking up their animal's excrement. "We are asking people to consider the whole picture of foot and mouth and keep their dogs on a lead," he added.