THOUSANDS of chicken carcases left in the debris of a massive fire at a Herefordshire farm have been left rotting for the past three weeks.

About 9,000 chickens perished in the blaze at Hill House Farm, near Ledbury, earlier this month but will only be cleared away this weekend following worries about their disposal.

Concerns centred around hazardous asbestos found in a roof lining which was destroyed along with the 14,000sq ft building.

Farmer Alistair Young criticised the Environment Agency for failing to give clearance for the debris to be deposited at a landfill site until Wednesday. The Environment Agency claimed it gave advice to Mr Young last week.

"I certainly wasn't happy with the situation and I'm still not happy. It just needs clearing up as soon as possible," said Mr Young.

"It seems to have been the Environment Agency that has been the problem.

"We haven't said it is a public health concern but it is a concern to me with regard to my remaining stock and the possibility of contamination passing from the carcasses to rodents.

"I don't know what the problem has been, whether it was the asbestos, the bodies or a combination of the two.

"As soon as we've got the site cleared we have got to start rebuilding. It will take a long while to get back to normality but that's what we are working towards."

An Environment Agency spokesperson said: "We have been consulted over the disposal which does include burnt chicken and asbestos.

"We gave advice last week and it is up to the parties to act upon it."

Firefighters spent about three hours tackling the blaze, thought to have started because of an electrical fault.

The farm's two other chicken sheds, which were unaffected, house a total of 18,000 birds.