The opening of York's footpaths is premature and could lead to the spread of foot and mouth disease, a keen walker has claimed.

John Yarker contacted the Evening Press after reading about calls from Pickering walkers for more paths to be opened.

He is concerned because City of York Council has already reopened footpaths around the city, following guidelines from the Ministry of Agriculture.

But Mr Yarker, a delivery driver from Hessay, has urged caution from responsible authorities.

"Whilst North Yorkshire County Council is taking a very cautious approach to opening footpaths the City of York seems to have taken the opposite view," he says in a letter to the Evening Press.

"They have opened footpaths and rights of way and I consider this to be very dangerous."

Mr Yarker said a footpath, 200 yards away from his house, connecting Shirbutt Lane and the A59, has been opened to the public - despite the fact that it runs past a field of sheep. "It is a bad idea to have people walking anywhere near animals, even in an uninfected area," he said. "If someone who is carrying the disease goes near animals, it will be an easy matter for the disease to transfer to them."

But a spokesman for City of York Council, which reopened the paths last Tuesday, said: "The council acted on the advice of the Ministry of Agriculture, which said that it was safe to reopen paths where there was no immediate risk of infection. We cannot deny that a risk is there, but any area which has not had an outbreak is safe to be reopened."

He said the council had placed clear signs on all its footpaths advising people to stick to marked paths and to avoid all contact with livestock.

Meanwhile, Yorkshire Forward today announced details of its cash lifeline to businesses suffering because of foot and mouth.

The regional development agency said handouts would be made on a first-come, first-served basis.

As part of a £2.5 million Business Recovery Plan, the agency will initially give out 500 grants of £2,000 each.

In order to be eligible for a grant, businesses must demonstrate that they have been significantly affected by the disease, and that they were financially viable before the crisis arose.

They must also show that the business is important to the rural economy. Ineligible businesses include those in agriculture, transport, fishing and food processing.

John Guy, senior specialist advisor for Business Link North Yorkshire, said: "A wide range of businesses in the rural economy have been significantly affected.

"Tourism is the obvious one, but there are many others, so anything that can be done to try to help those people is a good thing."

To apply for the funding, which will be administered as quickly as possible, businesses should contact the Business Link North Yorkshire information centre on 01904 686000, or e-mail the centre at info.centre@northyorkshire.businesslink.co.uk

Updated: 11:11 Thursday, June 07, 2001