Natural England

Natural England is taking every step to support Defra in preventing the spread of Foot and Mouth disease.

We are working closely with Defra, our partners and customers to ensure that the wider countryside remains open. The popular heathland site at Thursley National Nature Reserve, which is within the Surveillance Zone, remains open to visitors.

However, as a key step to support disease control, Natural England has suspended all planned visits to farms within the 3km Protection Zone (PZ) around the infected site and the wider 10km Surveillance Zone whilst investigations into the source of Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak continue. Staff will be contacting any land owners and occupiers affected by this action.

With sensible precautions, we are continuing to provide our normal range of services across the country. Natural England is continuing to work with farmers and land managers across the country on our programmes to conserve and enhance the natural environment, whilst observing strict biosecurity measures as recommended by Defra.

We encourage anyone to get in touch through the normal routes if they need to discuss anything with Natural England.

We will continue to update our website on this issue as more information becomes available. For further details on the situation in Surrey please visit the Defra website.