TONY Blair's countryside champion has pledged to press the Government to provide more help for rural businesses in the wake of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Rural Advocate Ewen Cameron acknowledged there had been difficulties in getting financial support to stricken firms - and admitted some businesses were unlikely to survive the winter.

But he said some help was getting through and increasing attention should be paid to improve training and marketing.

The Countryside Agency chairman, appointed as Rural Advocate to argue the countryside's case in Government, toured businesses in Barnard Castle, yesterday, as part of a visit to Teesdale and Weardale.

He said projects such as the Teesdale Marketing Initiative had helped bring businesses together and should serve as a model for other communities.

He said: "The Government needs to promote that process, whether it is with the right forms of grants or through business advice being made available.

"It should also be the work of the Government in making sure training facilities are there. Too often, people in business think training is going back to school, when it is about doing what you are doing, but better."

He said the winter would be a difficult time for rural businesses and some firms were not taking advantage of Government initiatives to alleviate their financial difficulties.

Restaurateur Bill Oldfield, chairman of Teesdale Marketing and among the businessmen to speak to Mr Cameron, said Barnard Castle's tourist trade was between 20 and 30 per cent down this year.

He said: "I believe we need more expertise in small businesses. If you work in a large company, that expertise comes through training courses and working with your colleagues, but in a small business you don't get that sort of contact.

"We need to train businesses to cope with changing markets and we need to learn from other people's experiences."

Margaret Brown, owner of Brown's Tailors and chairman of the Teesdale Enterprise Agency, put forward proposals for marketing the area in discussions with Mr Cameron.

She said: "The main thing I would like to see is promotion of Teesdale, with someone working full-time, and he was interested in that, although obviously he is not going to give any commitments."

Read more about foot-and-mouth here.