The full cost of the foot and mouth crisis to Bradford's rural districts may not be known for years, a Government agency warned today.

The rural economy of Yorkshire lost around £125 million due to the outbreak, with the tourism sector suffering a drop of 300,000 trips and 900,000 overnight stays, it was revealed.

But the report by the Countryside Agency said the overall impact of foot and mouth on the region had been "complex and wide-ranging and extends beyond the economic effects".

And it warned the effect on the health and well-being of rural communities and the environment "will only become apparent with time".

"The crisis has underlined the vulnerability of rural economies and emphasised how closely related rural tourism is to the provision of local services," it stated

Today Councillor Anne Hawksworth (Cons, Ilkley), Bradford Council's executive member for the environment, said the report had made a number of "good, common sense points".

She said the crisis had emphasised the fact that Bradford's is a rural economy and is heavily affected by issues in the countryside.

And she called for an independent inquiry to ensure lessons are learned.

"It is now time for us to move forward and to do that we need to know the full facts because I believe a lot of mistakes were made this time around," she said.

Bradford farmer John Gullett, a spokesman for the National Farmers' Union, said he doubted if the full cost of foot and mouth could ever be quantified.

"For many farmers the situation has been quite desperate, and when things were at their worst, some farmers were literally at their wits' end," he said.

"Before foot and mouth came along, agriculture was going through a difficult time and then, when it did arrive, it was almost enough to knock them over the edge."

He was not surprised at the Countryside Agency's high valuation of the cost. "No-one can dispute that many businesses have suffered, because people were just not going into the countryside. Even on the farms, one of the strange anomalies is that some of the farmers who have been left with stock have suffered more than those who lost their animals because there was just no market at all."

The Countryside Agency report said much of the fall in tourism revenue was due to a slump in visitors from abroad and British people switching to urban breaks and DIY.

Ilkley was one of the worst affected towns. Chris Brown, general manager of the Crescent Hotel, said the outbreak had caused a "significant downturn" in business.

"Although our business accommodation trade remained successful, weekends were extremely quiet from the end of January and we didn't have any tourism at all.

"That caused a 20 per cent downturn in our accommodation which then has a significant effect on our restaurant and bar takings."

Mr Brown said that, despite a good Christmas, tourists were not expected to return in numbers until April. "We can only really hope that they do start to come back. Having spoken to colleagues in the Lake District, they seem to have recovered quickly so I am hoping we will follow that trend."