C & D contractors still not paid

Originally from: Kittra
                        
FARMS' CLEAN-UP BILL WILL BE £1BN
 Western Daily Press

 11:00 – 06 March 2002
 
 THE Government was yesterday warned it was facing a £1billion bill for the cost of cleaning up farms in the wake of foot-and-mouth.

 And a leading West legal firm has announced it is launching a £20million lawsuit on behalf of contractors who are still waiting to be paid for their work.

 But the first case of its kind is the tip of the iceberg and is likely to lead to scores of similar lawsuits, launched by agricultural firms across the country.

 Experts are also warning that the breakdown of trust between Whitehall and the farming community could have dangerous long-term implications.

 Even if the unthinkable was to happen and foot-and-mouth returned, many rural companies are now saying they would refuse to work for the Ministry.

 At the height of the cleansing operation the cost of disinfecting farms was running at £2million a day in England and Wales.

 Farmers affected by the epidemic had to follow strict clean-up guidelines before they were allowed to restock with cattle and sheep.

 But the mammoth undertaking came to a shuddering halt last July when the Government accused farmers and contractors of colluding to milk the system.

 And since the investigation was launched by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, many payments to cleaning companies have been halted.

 Now prestigious legal firm, Clarke Willmott and Clarke, of Bristol, has announced it is preparing to take the cases of the unpaid contractors to the courts in a joint action. And just one of its clients is claiming he is owed £7.5million for the work he has already carried out.

 The firm says the total clean-up bill could be £1billion.

 Tim Russ, head of its agricultural team, said: "I wonder who will clean up if a farm is infected by foot-and-mouth, because no contractor will now work for Defra due to this non-payment."

 Yesterday a spokesman for Defra said: "We are still making payments to contractors and so far we have paid out £275million.

 "There are a number of invoices that still need to be validated and as a result that has led to some delays in payments.

 "Part of the responsibilities we have at Defra is to maintain fiscal control over taxpayers'money.

 "Since questions were raised about whether these amounts were a valid use of public funds everything needs to be validated.We are not just going to shell out willy-nilly."
                        

Originally from: Joyce
                        
Tim Russ, head of its agricultural team, said: "I wonder who will clean up if a farm is infected by foot-and-mouth, because no contractor will now work for Defra due to this non-payment."

PROBABLY WHAT THE GOV WANTS.....WON'T BE ABLE TO RE-STOCK THEREFORE END OF FARM.

"Part of the responsibilities we have at Defra is to maintain fiscal control over taxpayers'money.

"Since questions were raised about whether these amounts were a valid use of public funds everything needs to be validated.We are not just going to shell out willy-nilly."

THIS DIDN'T BOTHER THEM WHEN THEY WERE BUSY WASTING IT ON THE SO CALLED POLICY! Joyce

Originally from: David
                        
I think you will find payments were suspended because the EU have suspended payments to the UK Government pending an investigation by the OLAF – whatever that is.

It would have been far cheaper to have paid the farmer £40,000 not to farm his farm for a year and then time would have rendered it safe from FMD. It would certainly have come to less than the stories I have been hearing about. £500,000 is not an uncommon figure for one farm.

David