Scores of miles of drystone walls in North York Moors National Park should be protected in the same way as hedgerows, members of the authority have been told.

Many of the traditional walls - some dating back 200 plus years - have been lost or damaged by utlility companies and others says Andrew Herbert, farm conservation officer for the park.

Other National Parks are also keen to see walls given protection he added. In the Peak District as much as 15 kilometres have been loost a year.

"Legislation would enable local authorities to influence the removal of walls, in particular to protect those which are of historic and landscape value. In the North York Moors there have been cases i9n recent years of deliberate removal of walls by land managers" he said.

Theft of stone from walls - often for garden rockeries - and neglect are the biggest problems said Mr Herbert according to a countryside survey carried out recently.

However agri-environment schemes funded by the government and other agencies, has helped restore some walls he said.

"The most important factor inm the protection of stone walls is access to adequate funding for their maintenance and repair. We hope that the national review of agri-environment schemes will improve the availability of funding".