THE foot-and-mouth crisis in 2001 was a nightmare from which our rural communities are slowly recovering.

For the residents of Throckmorton, the process has been tougher to cope with than it has been for many others.

The decision to bury around 133,000 animal carcases at the village airfield during the crisis left local people with a host of fears for the future.

In the months that followed, plagues of flies were reported, there were concerns that rat populations could increase and, overshadowing all, the fear that water supplies could be polluted by seepage from the carcase burial chambers as the bodies decomposed.

The concerns were refuted by agencies, such as Defra, involved in managing the site, and a survey by Det Norske Veritas - a scientific and engineering consultancy company - played down worries.

Defra now wants to carry out a restoration project for the site. It wants to improve the way the site is managed and make the most of the ecological value of the land.

In short, it wants to remove as many indications as possible that the site is the final resting place of the carcases.

For Councillor Liz Tucker, who lives in the hamlet, Defra is doing the right thing and it looks as though something approaching normality will - at long last - return to the community.