FARMERS have called for a major road through a rural community to be disinfected in an effort to save their dale from further devastation at the hands of foot-and-mouth.

Landowners in the stretch of Weardale between the Cumbrian border and Wolsingham, are living in fear that the crisis is closing in on them from both east and west.

At either end of the A689 road through the dale, the disease has devastated communities and, as the lambing season continues, uncertainty over the life-span of the fledgling flocks has farmers expecting the worst.

Heartbroken by the disease's effects, they do not know whether each lamb they birth will get the chance to live or whether it will be shot because of the crisis.

Michael and Barbara Coulthard, of Bridge End Farm, Westgate, said farmers have been pressing Durham County Council for two weeks to disinfect the road at two points to stop the disease entering their part of the dale.

And following the weekend's voluntary decision to sacrificially cull thousands of healthy animals in Wolsingham to help stop the disease's spread, the farmers have reinforced their plea.

Mrs Coulthard, speaking on behalf of the dale's farmers, said: "We thank the farmers of Wolsingham who have suffered heartache and pain, culling their cattle and sheep to try to stop the spread of the foot-and-mouth disease from coming up Weardale and the general public have gone out of their way to help the farmers in the dale.

"Their concern and understanding has overwhelmed us all, so we feel asking Durham County Council to disinfect the road from Wolsingham to Frosterley and also at Killhope is a small token to ask after everyone else has given up so much.

"This disease is a crisis to the farming industry and the whole rural community and it is time every organisation involved in the countryside does its utmost to help rid this horrendous disease."

A council spokesman said: "We are looking at the request."

But, he added, it had not been the county's policy so far to put the disinfecting straw mats on roads because it was seen as dangerous to motorists.

"There are safety issues to take into account here, especially with the amount of heavy goods vehicles that use that road," he said.