THE Lake District National Park has suffered less financially than expected from foot and mouth disease, it was announced today.

When FMD erupted in spring, the national park authority made savage budget cuts anticipating huge losses of income from business such as car parks and sales of books, maps and souvenirs from its tourist offices.

And although some planned conservation work was postponed, a financial review has revealed that the losses "are not as severe as had been feared earlier," says an official statement.

Now, says the report, the authority is "going flat out" to help the recovery process.