Ministers have pledged that only animals slaughtered locally will be dumped at two Sussex landfill sites.

The Environment Agency has identified sites near Small Dole and Warnham as being suitable for animals killed as a result of the foot-and-mouth outbreak.

More than 2,500 carcasses were dumped at the Biffa-owned site near Warnham before West Sussex County Council, Horsham District Council, the Environment Agency and the National Farmers Union complained to Maff.

The Ministry of Agriculture agreed to stop the practice because there had been no prior discussion before slaughtered animals from infected areas were brought into the disease-free county.

The animals were not infected but had been culled because they were near farms with diseased animals.

Lewes MP Norman Baker demanded to know whether animals at farms near the Sussex landfill sites were at an increased risk of foot-and-mouth.

In particular, he wanted to know if infected animals would be transported long distances for disposal at the tips.

In a written Parliamentary answer, Environment Minister Michael Meacher reassured him this would not happen.

He also pledged that animals with the disease would only be buried there if the area had already been hit by infection.

Mr Meacher said: "I understand that landfill sites at Small Dole and Warnham have been identified as suitable for carcass disposal but, in the event of their being used, only carcasses from the local area will be consigned to them."