COUNTRYSIDE chiefs hope to lift the blanket closure on footpaths imposed at the start of the foot-and-mouth outbreak by the beginning of next week.

Work on opening paths in north and east County Durham is virtually complete and is well under way in Weardale.

Durham County Council is starting to open footpaths in Teesdale today and hopes to have every footpath in the county outside the three kilometre exclusion zone open to the public by next Monday.

The Teesdale re-opening programme will start in the Upper Teesdale, Bowes, Hope, Stang and Barningham areas.

Director of environment and technical services Chris Tunstall said: "While that work progresses, we will make last-minute checks with farmers in the Middlestone and Balderstone exclusion areas, to determine whether they have stock on any small areas of land lying outside the 3km zones.

"Obviously, if they have, we will be mapping those areas and will avoid re-opening any paths that cross them.

"Any paths which lead to infected premises or into an exclusion zone, including those over the border in Cumbria, will remain closed back to the nearest road."

The re-opening programme is being carried out in accordance with Government guidelines.