LITTLE more than a week ago the car park at the Auction Mart in Gisburn was empty, a harsh reminder of how foot and mouth had gripped the industry.

Today it bustles with soldiers, vets, administration staff and a host of assorted officials.

With 18 portable buildings -- and more to be added -- the car park has been transformed into the base for the MAFF "Forward Operations" dedicated to fighting foot and mouth which is ravaging the Ribble Valley. Yesterday five more cases were confirmed in the area taking the total to 11 in less then two weeks. There have now been 28 cases in Lancashire.

The latest were at Park House Farm, Bolton-by-Bowland, and at nearby Fooden Farm, which had its animals slaughtered before the disease was confirmed.

The cluster in the Ribble Valley has been linked to the massive outbreak in Settle, in neighbouring North Yorkshire. MAFF put the total of animals slaughtered in the so-called Settle Rectangle as 105,631 sheep, 17,931 cattle, 85 pigs and 19 goats. The number continues to rise with cases cropping up every day.

With such an alarming rise of new cases being confirmed, MAFF decided it needed to be at the heart of the crisis. Whereas previously vets and officials travelled from Barton Hall, in Preston, the headquarters will house 120 vets dealing specifically with cases in the Ribble Valley. Vets from Leeds have also moved into the centre from where they will fight the North Yorkshire outbreak. David Duff, operational director of MAFF in Preston, said: "It was silly having two centres dealing with the individual cases when they are so close together. This is a location where vets can deal with both areas."

The site is fully equipped with water, electricity and telephone lines. Once a new case is confirmed officials will be despatched from Gisburn and be on the farm as soon as possible. When they were based at Preston journeys were taking well over an hour.

Manned seven-days-a-week the site, which is patrolled 24-hours by security, has all the necessary equipment to help fight the spread of the disease. Overalls are stringently cleaned with disinfectant after each visit and computers mean information can be exchanged between the Gisburn, Preston and Leeds sites within minutes. The Army helped build the base and -- as in other parts of the country hit hard by the disease -- are on hand to help eradicate foot and mouth.

Lieutenant Colonel Huw Lawford, of the 22nd Regiment with the Royal Artillery, said three officers and one soldier woud have a permanent presence on the base. A team of up to 150 soldiers will be called upon should the already desperate situation spiral out of control.

He added: "Although we have the resources available MAFF have their own slaughtermen.

"We are there to oversee the culling of the animals and help co-ordinate the activities."