WHEN it came to rural recovery, Lord Haskins did not have a smooth ride.

Mr Graham Gill, a farmer who also runs an off-road driving business, criticised some aspects of diversification, the government's answer to everything. Dairy farmers had diversified, only to have the industry renege on a deal agreed with the dairy council, he said.

Lord Haskins, also chairman of Express Dairies, said everyone in the milk industry was in a mess. There was tension between the various factions, but co-operation had to be the name of the game.

Mr Gill said they used to have co-operation in the form of the Milk Marketing Board, until it was destroyed. They could not diversify if they had no confidence in the people they were asked to work with.

Lord Haskins replied that the MMB was a monopoly and that was unacceptable.

Mr Gill was also concerned about proposed rules on compulsory purchase valuation if there were another outbreak of the disease.

"We are being urged to share machinery from farm to farm yet, if these proposals become law, we will immediately lose 25pc of the valuation of stock because we will be deemed to have broken rules governing biosecurity," he said.

Lord Haskins agreed to look into that, saying the proposal was still at the committee stage.

Farmer and district councillor Mr Richard Betton was also critical of diversification, saying it was still being held up as the panacea. "I and my wife work all the hours God sends to make one inadequate living," he said, questioning the morality of asking people to do two jobs for a derisory income and saying he would drop dead before retirement if he carried on.

"Why should we be treated like second class citizens?" he asked. Most country areas had reached saturation point with diversification; what was needed was work to make present diversification more effective.

Teesdale was an area of tenant farmers, making it difficult to diversify, but they were among those supporting the local economy in the eight months of the year when there were no tourists. "Diversification is not going to solve any problems," he reiterated. If the government was going to continue to promote it, they might as well pack up now.

Lord Haskins said 50pc of farms now had other income, and, as he travelled round the country, he had been amazed at the amount of diversification. Any idea that farming was going to disappear was fatuous. It was true farming was in its worst position since the war, but he disagreed with farmers' leader Mr Ben Gill that it was the worst for 100 years.

Coun Betton remained sceptical. Once his children left the isolation of upper Teesdale for secondary school, they were likely to turn their backs on farming when they saw they could make an easier living. The average age of farmers was 55 and, if there was no following generation prepared to do two jobs for one income, where was the future?

Lord Haskins felt reform was necessary, stopping compensation for the production of food nobody wanted and producing what the market required.

Durham County Coun Bob Pendlebury, also chairman of Northumbria tourist board, lived within four miles of the Tow Law carcase disposal site. Advice had been contradictory from day-to-day and had caused a lot of ill feeling, he said.

Even now, there was confusion over what paths were open, with some farms remaining on Form A status. "I am concerned that tourism will suffer because of the uncertainty," he said.

Lord Haskins was dismayed to hear that some footpaths remained closed, as his report had recommended no restraint on the movement of visitors. "The blanket shut-down was wrong," he said. "There was no evidence that walkers spread the disease."

When Ms Frieda Diplock, of social services, suggested the need for a user-friendly rural plan to cover all issues affecting the countryside, Coun Mary Mitchell agreed, saying there was no joined up working or thinking. Elliott Morley, Lord Whitty and Margaret Beckett had all been giving different messages, with Mrs Beckett's only view of the countryside being from her caravan in the south of France.

Lord Haskins agreed it made sense to go to government with a common policy.

Mr Tony Seaman, Teesdale council's director of development services, said he fought the corner for Teesdale wherever he went and it was a hard job.

Projects had been in place for the dale long before foot-and-mouth - like the farmer's market and the provision of new office and work space to reduce the effects of job losses at Glaxo.

"We just need to keep the pressure on all the time," he said.

His comments were backed by Mr Phil Barber, Barnard Castle NFU branch secretary, who praised the MP, Mr Derek Foster, and Mr Charles Anderson, Teesdale council's chief executive, who had worked tirelessly for the dale since the outbreak began.

But Lord Haskins' report mentioned everywhere except Durham, the fourth worst-hit county. Mr Barber asked what Mr Foster and Mr Anderson could do to ensure Teesdale was put on the same level of consideration as Cumbria.

Lord Haskins said his brief had been purely Cumbria, but there were no policies which discriminated against Teesdale.

Coun Alan Scott, who lost valuable breeding bulls in Cumbria, said agriculture and country life were in a wartime situation, and he hoped Lord Haskins would remember that and try to help them from now on.

Thanking Lord Haskins, Mr Foster said there had been a realistic exchange of views and he would continue to do what he could to make sure Teesdale's voice was heard. It would have been nice to have more money, but whatever did come through the report, it was his job to ensure Teesdale got its fair share.

Asked if he had learned anything, Lord Haskins told the D&S Times that the difficulties in Teesdale mirrored those he had met in other affected areas.

Would any good come of his visit, as his report was published and the government had already responded? Lord Haskins was positive, saying his recommendations were part of an ongoing process. He good-naturedly refused to be drawn on whether Durham was the forgotten county, believing it had plenty of voices to shout for it.

l To find out which footpaths are open in Co Durham, contact Leah Webster on 0191 383 3452