FOOT-and-mouth shows no sign of stopping in parts of South Cumbria at the same time as Tony Blair puts the clean-up programme on farms on hold due to high costs.

The disease continued to make its way south, with six cases confirmed over the weekend in the cluster known as the 'Penrith Spur', including three around Shap, just north of Kendal.

With footpaths due to open in large areas of South Cumbria on August 1, Derek Lomax from Kendal NFU said the continued southward passage of the disease was "very worrying".

Mr Lomax has written to the Director of Operations at DEFRA in Carlisle, Mr Anderson, asking for a review of the area set to open next weekend.

Mr.

Lomax said there had been 10 outbreaks around the Shap area in the last week and footpath opening had to be looked at again as the disease was still rampant in this area.

Mr.

Anderson said that vets would be looking again at their risk assessments for the area and footpath opening would be reviewed in light of them.

According to national reports, the cost of disinfecting British farms is running at £2 million a day - 10 times higher than on the Continent.

The DEFRA said it wanted to ensure contractors were working in a cost-effective way.