COMPLETED REGIONAL VISITS PROGRAMME
As an integral part of its evidence gathering process, the Inquiry completed a series of six regional visits to the areas of the country most seriously affected by the outbreak. Each visit included a public meeting, a number of interviews with key regional stakeholders and visits to sites connected with the outbreak, including farms and businesses associated with the wider rural economy, including tourist attractions. The Inquiry also met some of the people responsible for managing the outbreak.
The regional visits programme has given the Inquiry an invaluable opportunity to find out at first hand how individual people, their lives and businesses were affected by the crisis. More than 1000 people have engaged with the Inquiry in the regions, feeding in views, comments, experience and evidence, often reliving great personal trauma. As a result, the Inquiry’s work is much better founded. We now have a clear understanding of the great strength of feeling that still exists across the country, nearly 8 months after the final outbreak.
We wish to thank everyone who contributed to all the Inquiry’s events, public meetings.
The Chairman of the Inquiry, Dr Iain Anderson, said:
“I am extremely grateful for the frankness and honesty with which people engaged with the Inquiry across the whole country. On many occasions, particularly at public meetings, the strength of emotion was clear. Nevertheless, people contributed with great dignity and clarity and, as a result, the Inquiry’s work is immeasurably better informed than it could otherwise have hoped.”
The Inquiry visited the following regions:
- South West England – including Devon and Gloucester, with a public meeting in Okehampton
- Wales – taking in the Welshpool area and the Brecon Beacons, with a public meeting in Builth Wells
- Scotland – centring on Dumfries, with a public meeting in Lockerbie
- North East England – including Hexham and Morpeth, with a public meeting in Newcastle
- North West England – including North and South Cumbria, with a public meeting in Lancaster
- Yorkshire – covering Skipton, Northallerton and Thirsk, with a public meeting in Harrogate
Transcripts of all public meetings are available on this site. Notes of the 20 meetings held with regional stakeholders will be published as part of the Inquiry’s final report.
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