A SEMINAR for farmers which was to take place in the North-East later this week has been cancelled because of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

The conference, on integrated crop management, was to have been held at Mount Oswald Golf Club, Durham, on Thursday.

Durham County Council has postponed the event until later in the year.

Bill Kirkup, county council landscape officer, said: "In the current crisis, it's simply not sensible to go ahead with the event, which was open to farmers from across the region.

"But we will definitely reschedule it once the risk of spreading foot-and-mouth is over, and at this stage we're looking to November."

The county council has already cancelled its guided walks, while visits to farmland by its countryside staff are suspended.

Countryside manager Mike Lowe urged people to stay away from the 2,000 miles of rights of way during the crisis.

"We have received a number of calls from local farmers worried about public footpaths on their land and what they can do to minimise risks," he said.

Meanwhile, the launch of a "road safety campaign" for red squirrels, planned for today, has been cancelled as a knock-on of the crisis.

As part of the Red Alert North-East campaign, Durham Wildlife Trust was to have installed the county's first rope bridge, to prevent the animal from falling foul of motorists, at Plawsorth, between Durham and Chester-le-Street