|
|
| No-Go Areas to be Set
Up
|
|
Special 'no-go areas' will be created to try to
prevent foot-and-mouth from spreading to the Island's 250,000 cloven-hooved
animals during TT fortnight.
Measures will be put in place to ensure
that risks of the virulent disease are kept to an absolute minimum during the
fortnight, which is expected to see thousands of visitors despite the races
being called off.
There will be a ban on rural camping as well
restricted areas around the course. Full details have yet to be announced by
the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, but spokesman Bob
Carswell said DAFF is looking at the immediate problem of camping in the
countryside.
Footpaths, glens and hill land were declared out-of-bounds
as soon as the threat of foot-and-mouth became apparent. Chief Minister Donald
Gelling outlined plans for extra precautions in his speech to Tynwald last
week, when he announced the cancellation of the races.
He said: 'We
will be relying heavily on an extensive education and information programme to
help our visitors cope with the special arrangements, but we also feel that
there is a need to put in place some further legal powers to back up the
education and publicity.
'We are proposing, therefore, to make
additional orders under the Animal Health Act to put the force of law behind
the ban on rural camping and no-go areas.' Mr Gelling outlined the risks that
would have been posed if the races had gone ahead.
He said: 'Spectator
access to the countryside is, perhaps, the greatest risk because the key to all
precautionary measures is to ensure separation between people and animals. 'It
is in the nature of the TT that spectators wander over the Island to different
vantage points, or stop and sit on hedges to watch the racers and other fans go
by.'
|
Back to Features Index
|
|
|
| Interviews
|
 |
| Read about your favourite riders and what they think
about the the Isle of Man TT Course and Road Racing in general. [
more...
]
|
|
