THE astonishing cost of a controversial foot-and-mouth mass burial site was finally revealed by the Government last night.

The Inkerman site at Tow Law, County Durham - which was the focus of huge protests by villagers amid fears it posed a potential health risk - will land the taxpayer with a £15m bill.

About 45,000 animal carcasses were dumped there during the height of the outbreak last year as officials battled to halt the spread of the disease.

Figures obtained exclusively by The Northern Echo from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) show the cost breakdown for the 239-acre site, which is yet to officially close:

* £8.1m was spent on buying the former opencast land and preparing it for mass burial;

* £4.01m will be needed to remove leachate - liquid discharge from animal remains caused by rainwater - cap the burial pits and landscape the site;

* £3.09m will go towards managing and monitoring the site for the next ten to 15 years.

Jenny Flynn, the chairman of Tow Low Town Council, which claimed it was not properly consulted by Defra over the site, was "appalled" by the costs.

"It is an incredible amount and proves Inkerman was not cost effective," she said. "Clearly from the feedback we have been getting, this is a method of disposal which will not be used again because of the expense."

Protestor Peter Lister, from Tow Law, said: "We are talking about a scandalous waste of public money which could have helped build a new hospital.

"The Government was in far too much of a hurry to use a method of disposal which has not been proved to be safe.

"Incineration which could have been used is a tried and tested method and burial directly on farms would not have multiplied the biological risk massively with no transport of carcasses involved."

The campaign to close Inkerman - one of two mass burial sites in the region, the other being Widdrington, in Northumberland - was taken to the European Commission by North-East MEP Stephen Hughes.

It is continuing to examine whether environmental risk assessments, which are required by law, were properly carried out by Defra before the site opened in May last year.

Earlier this year, a meeting in Newcastle of the Government's Lessons to be Learned inquiry - set up to identify the mistakes made in tackling foot-and-mouth - heard how Tow Law villagers were left physically sick by the stench of rotting carcasses.

Locals said the burial site was foisted upon them without consultation, and described how they had been angered by the "arrogant attitude" of Government officials.

The site was bought for £360,000 from mining company HJ Banks and approved by the Environment Agency and Durham County Council.

But that figure was far outweighed by the huge costs involved in actively preparing the site, with a high water table thought to have been among a number of problematic conditions.

Defra - which replaced the Ministry of Agriculture - maintains that full consultation took place and the site met health and safety requirements. It was required because of insufficient rendering facilities to deal with a growing number of animal carcasses.

A spokesman defended the costs and said it was now doing everything to ensure it was adequately cleaned and left in a safe condition.

Defra's stance has been backed by North-West Durham Labour MP Hilary Armstrong.

She said: "The Government was determined to tackle this dreadful outbreak and the costs of doing things safely was never going to be cheap.

"It is easy to be clever with hindsight and say something different should have been done."

The MP said she had recently spoken with agriculture minister Elliot Morley and was continuing to press for a closure date for the site.

Once restored, it could eventually be returned to the local community as wildlife heathland

Read more about foot-and-mouth here.