A LANDOWNERS' lobby group has stepped in to try to resolve a long-running dispute over dangerous spikes on moorland at Carlton Bank

The Country Land and Business Association is mediating in the row between stud owner Ken Saddington and the North York Moors National Park Authority.

Mr Saddington, who owns Carlton Bank Stud, says walkers, horse riders and children who use the land for sledging are in danger of impaling themselves on spikes used as part of a restoration scheme six years ago.

He says the national park authority should remove the irons as part of an agreement to make the land safe following the restoration work.

The irons were used to pin down matting to allow grass to grow again on a section of the land.

The wrangle continues because the authority claims Mr Saddington is responsible for maintenance of the area under contracts agreed prior to the work. The upshot is a stalemate which leaves hundreds of irons sticking out of the ground at various lengths.

Mr Saddington said: "It's like having land mines everywhere. They are dangerous and need removing. Children use the area for sledging and some of them slide down on plastic bags, they could rip themselves apart on these irons."

Richard Gunton, head of park services at the authority, said the national park was prepared to help Mr Saddington remove the irons, but ultimately it was his responsibility.

He said: "We have offered to help remove the pins a number of times and we are still awaiting a response from Mr Saddington. The scheme was drawn up after he signed an agreement which made it his responsibility to restore the land."

"He was obliged by law to carry out a reclamation scheme and we spent a lot of public money to help him to do that. We had his agreement at every stage."

However, Mr Saddington claims the agreement involved the authority making the land safe, which he says it clearly has not. He said: "They can't say it has been made safe with all these irons sticking out of the ground. The work was done by the national park and they left it like this, so they should put it right."

Dorothy Fairburn, Yorkshire regional director of the Country Land and Business Association, said she was in discussion with the national park on behalf of Mr Saddington.

She said: "We are hoping to come up with some sort of compromise. "There is a problem that has got to be solved one way or the other, but until I have seen the agreements I can't really comment any further.