A BITTER row has erupted over gallons of milk being thrown away from a creamery at a learning disabled village – with campaigners claiming unorthodox cheese-making methods were carried out in a jam-making area.

Campaigners for Botton village, in Danby Dale, North Yorkshire, said last week managers of Camphill Village Trust (CVT) wasted more than 1,000 litres of milk rather than call upon a former employee to help after the head cheese-maker had to suddenly deal with family illness.

The feud escalated when Scarborough Borough Council’s Environmental Health were called after reports of cheese being made in the jam-making facility in the village – contravening food safety regulations.

The campaigners said the learning disabled residents of Botton who work in the dairy making cheese, cream and yoghurt, were stopped working and sent home went the head cheese-maker was called away– but that there was another cheese-maker in the village who could have stepped in.

The trust said former employee Eddie Thornton was not asked to assist in the creamery because he had resigned as an employee in the village, and had subsequently been dismissed as a volunteer.

A trust spokesman added that in an attempt to save some of the milk from going to waste, residents pulled together to make dairy products in other areas of the village, and that a manager would contact environmental health to clear up the issue.

Mr Thornton said: “When the milk was poured away I immediately offered CVT the opportunity to not waste the week’s production of more than 3,000 litres.

“As the only cheese-maker within driving distance of the village I am their only option. Sadly I think that pride or ideology has once more got in the way of the community functioning properly.

“It’s an insult to the learning disabled residents of Botton Village who get up at 5am to milk the cows, and frankly a criminal waste.”

Mark Denny, operations director at CVT, said: “An emergency staffing issue at the creamery has meant we were not able to use all of the milk produced in Botton last week.

“This is an issue which we’ve had in the past but are now looking to address more formally.

‘We are presently recruiting for an assistant in the creamery, which should help ensure there is consistent cover in the future in line with our wider development plans.

“In this instance we have worked as a community to use as much of the milk as possible. The re-opening of the new food centre has also helped, and the people involved said it has also been a great experience working imaginatively together, trying some new recipes and enlivening the workshop with activity, enthusiasm and goodwill.”

Scarborough Borough Council's Environmental Health was unavailable for comment.