HOUSEHOLDERS living close to the foot-and-mouth burial site at Throckmorton should have been compensated, according to a damning report.

The Lessons to be Learned inquiry said such a payment "might have gone some way to mitigating the distress" felt by local people.

Iain Anderson, who chaired the inquiry, said the issue of compensation was "complex" - but Ministers should research making payments in the event of future outbreaks.

He also criticised the way decisions to open mass burial sites were taken.

They would never have been popular, Dr Anderson said. But the "lack of information and perceived insensitivity to local concerns aggravated the situation."

DEFRA has so far refused to set up a compensation scheme for residents. In light of the report, Mid-Worcestershire MP Peter Luff is now calling for a re-think.

As predicted in yesterday's Evening News, the report highlighted a catalogue of mismanagement during last year's outbreak.

It stated that Ministers were too slow in their response after the first few cases were diagnosed, and contingency plans contained "significant shortcomings".

Dr Anderson said there was "no obvious reason" why the Army was not used until Day 25 - despite being contacted at the start.

"The delays may have been due to a desire to avoid sending negative political messages about the gravity of the crisis," he said.

"They may have been caused by MAFF's reluctance to ask for help. Or they may have occurred because Government did not appreciate the sheer size of the task.

"Whatever the reason, the arrival of the military heralded a positive step change in the management of the disease."

The damage done to tourism from the effective closure of the countryside was also focused on by the last of three independent inquiries into the epidemic.

The catastrophe of mass slaughter, funeral pyres across the country and ruined farms is estimated to have cost the economy £8bn. Tourism lost up to £3.2bn.

The Tories said the report showed "grievous mistakes" had been made by Ministers.

Agriculture Secretary Margaret Beckett said mistakes had been made - but this was inevitable in an outbreak of such unprecedented scale. She blamed delays on bringing in the Army on "poor information systems".

Mrs Beckett confirmed vaccination would form part of the Government's strategy for containing the disease in the event of another outbreak.