Councillors in Cumbria have received an interim report into the foot-and-mouth epidemic that devastated the county last year.

The full report of the Cumbria inquiry into the outbreak was due for publication on Thursday, but was delayed because of the volume of evidence.

Inquiry chairman Professor Phil Thomas issued the interim report, which gave little away about the inquiry findings.

The full report is now expected to be published at the end of August or early September.

Virus effects

The inquiry into the epidemic was held by Cumbria County Council in May - it looked at how the virus affected farming, tourism, and business in the area.

Evidence was heard from local farmers, residents, businesses, and held a number of open days for members of the public to put their points of view.

Professor Thomas told councillors his report would differ from others because of its concentration on Cumbria.

He said it would tackle the issues and concerns of the people in Cumbria who had to deal with the virus and it's knock-on effects.

Big picture

Professor Thomas said statistics, such as the total cost to the economy, did not give the full picture.

He told BBC Radio Cumbria: "Those hard figures, the big numbers, do not really capture the microcosm of a small business or individual farm caught up in the situation.

"The small business whose turnover had dropped to to 40, 50, 60% in some cases."

Professor Thomas and his team of assessors will meet on 4 August to discuss recommendations for the report.