JUDGING to find County Durham's most litter-free community will start next month after being delayed by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The recent easing of restrictions on access to the countryside means that the judges of the county's Tidy Village competition can start visiting the 80-plus entrants.

Inspections by the volunteer judges should have started in May but at the time there were wide-ranging limits on movement in rural areas, which were designed to prevent the disease spreading.

The competition is designed to encourage communal pride in the county's villages and hamlets.

Margaret Gibbon, the press secretary of the competition, said: "Judging will begin in July and there will be second and third rounds in August and September.

"There may be some places that we still can't go to but hopefully we'll be able to visit most of the villages that have entered.''

Grass cutting had been stopped in many areas near farms because of the disease although the easing of restrictions means it can now be done.

"We are taking into account that grass cutting has been restricted,'' Mrs Gibbon said.

"It has been a frustrating time because of foot-and-mouth but we did not want to stop the competition because of it.

"Normally we hold the presentation ceremony in September or October but this year it will be held in November.''

The competition is in its 41st year. The Advertiser's sister paper The Northern Echo provides two of the trophies - for the best small general village and for the best large premier village.

A new prize will be up for grabs this year, the Harry Eggleston Trophy, for the best medium-sized village, which has been donated by Lanchester woodshaving contractors H Eggleston Junior and Son Ltd.