A BID has been made for council tax reductions for residents living near a mass foot-and-mouth burial site.

Tow Law Town Council is writing to MP Hilary Armstrong asking her to seek a bills reduction on her constituents' behalf.

Councillor Ron Grogan, district councillor for the village and a town councillor, said residents have suffered enough, living on the doorstep of the mass grave at nearby Inkerman.

He said: "Tow Law should be classed as a special case for all the upset we have had as a result of that site.

"We are asking for council tax rebates for both domestic and businesses.''

Meanwhile, protestors have stepped up their campaign to try and limit burials on the site, which could take up to 200,000 carcasses if necessary.

They are calling on people in the village to join them by holding a meeting at 5pm today in the workingmen's club.

In a leaflet delivered to all residents, the group has asked for help to monitor lorries, check local streams, and write to their MP and councillors.

A further meeting with Ministry of Agriculture (Maff) officials, representatives from Banks - which sold the site to Maff - and councillors has been arranged for Friday, in the community centre, at 6.30pm.

Last night, Ms Armstrong said she would look at the council's letter and had already forwarded a request made by residents in Inkerman.

She said: "Compensation is a difficult thing. There are frequently natural disasters which have an impact on communities, and foot-and-mouth is just the latest."

l A Maff official said it was no closer to solving the problem of where to put carcasses earmarked for exhumation.

Animals at West Shipley Farm, Hamsterley and Low West House Farm, Tow Law, will have to be exhumed after problems arose with water contamination. Both graves contain cattle over the age of five, which cannot be reburied because of BSE risks. There are no appropriate burning sites.

He said statements issued earlier this week claiming the animals from Hamsterley had already been exhumed were made because of a breakdown in communication.