A Writtle College study of the foot-and-mouth crisis has concluded that the outbreak may have cost Essex £1.3bn.

The study was commissioned by Essex Economic Partnership.

The report says that although the financial impact is potentially enormous, positive results could come from a new partnership between business support, education, and training in rural areas to deliver a rural regeneration package.

EEP boss Terry Conder said: "The rural economy makes a major contribution and employs 11,000 people, but it has been in decline for several decades.

"The recent crisis underlined the fact that significant actions need to be taken to reverse this downturn."

The report recommends:

A monitoring survey of the effect of the disease for another 18 months

Extra promotion of countryside tourism for the rest of the season

Producing a three to five year recovery plan for the rural economy

Developing a countywide rural regeneration package

Essex Farmers Union chairman John Jolly said: "The publicity campaign and marketing assistance is okay, but the financial burden remains enormous.

Increased soft loans would be a help, but for the Government to take over the whole the whole consequential loss of the outbreak would, on current and probably inaccurate estimates, be £20bn for the nation as a whole. No government could bear all that cost."

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