PLANS for a proposed community walk have been halted after concerns over dog fouling on football pitches.

Barnard Castle Town Council considered proposals to create a community walk from Green Lane through to Ten Fields and down to Kalafat at a meeting on Monday night.

However, they received an objection from chairman of Barnard Castle Football Club, Pat Estall, who wrote to express concern the walk would encourage more dog owners to use their pitches.

He said dog fouling was already a serious issue for the club which has a responsibility under FA regulations to ensure the pitches they use - at Ten Fields and Green Lane School - are free from dog mess.

Mr Estall said he had been verbally abused by dog owners after asking them not to walk their dogs on the pitches.

“It’s been going on for years,” he added. “We go down there for matches and come across any amount of deposits which is not acceptable and I had people verbally abuse me because I’m telling them they should not be walking their dogs there and they tell me to go away.

“It’s not that we are against dog walking, we are all animal lovers, but we have the health and safety of the players using the field in mind, the last thing we want is to put any of our players at risk.”

The town council agreed that the plans should be reconsidered in light of the objection and and would pass on their deliberations to Durham County Council, which will make the final decision.