THE smoking pyres of burning carcasses, which became one of the most enduring images during the foot and mouth crisis last year, will not be seen in East Lancashire again, following a new government report.

Instead, the Government will use more mass burial sites like the one seen at Biffa's landfill site in Bolton Road, Withnell.

The site, close to Abbey Village, was the only one of its kind in Lancashire at the time.

The Government's response to the foot and mouth outbreak and its plans for the future are included in submissions to the independent 'Lessons Learned' inquiry into the outbreak. East Lancashire was at the forefront of government moves to contain the disease in Lancashire when the first case in the county was confirmed on February 27, 2001, at Ollerton Farm, in Withnell.

Thousands of sheep and cattle infected were culled instantly in Chorley and Biffa's site received thousands of animals culled as a precautionary measure because of their close proximity to infected animals.

But in the submissions, the Government admitted that there are some things that, with hindsight, they would have done better.

New contingency plans have now been drawn up to guide their response to any further outbreak.

These include national restrictions on animal movements immediately on confirmation of the first case, rather than the localised restrictions imposed when the first cases of the disease were found.

The use of vaccination will not be considered. The target of culling animals within 24 hours of a case being spotted will remain.

There will be no requirement for countrywide closures of footpaths, but paths close to infected areas would still have to be closed. The Government said the overall cost to the taxpayer caused by the outbreak was £2.7 billion.

Of this, £1 billion was given as compensation to farmers who had animals slaughtered for disease control purposes.

Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, said: "The restrictions imposed on Chorley, one of the first cases in the country, were successful. I hope that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will research and develop a better way of dealing with any cases in the future.

"Pyres all over the countryside are certainly not the way forward."