Footpaths across most of the area will be re-opened from midnight tonight - despite deep fears by Worth Valley farmers that they would be hit by foot and mouth disease.

A bid by Bradford Council to keep many paths in the Haworth, Oakworth, Oxenhope, Stanbury, Bingley rural and Cullingworth areas shut has failed.

But a 700-name petition signed mainly by members of the public in Worth Valley is being sent to Environment Secretary, Margaret Beckett, asking her to allow the Council to keep them shut.

The only footpaths which will remain closed in the district are those through grazing land inside a three kilometre zone from confirmed outbreaks.

They are around farms in Silsden, on the outskirts of Keighley, and Middleton, near Ilkley. That means Ilkley Moor and Burley Moor, which are in the zones, will remain closed.

But Baildon Moor and Shipley Glen along with most other parts of the district will re-open.

The Council says it has to comply with guidance from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

But Councillor Kris Hopkins (Con, Worth Valley) said he had collected a 700-name petition within a short time because feeling was so strong.

He said: "DEFRA have drawn arbitrary lines and have been contradicting themselves for four months.

"Farmers in the Worth Valley are dismayed and fear further outbreaks.

"The situation is dangerous and common sense needs to be applied. Areas where animals are grazing around infected areas should be kept closed."

He added: "There is a natural link between Keighley and the Worth Valley farming communities. So far there have been no outbreaks in the Worth Valley and four in Keighley and the opening of the footpaths defies logic."

Harry Wellock, who farms West House in Oldfield, near Keighley, said: "Most farmers will be against any footpaths opening in this area. A lot of paths go through farmyards - one goes past our house and the farm buildings."

He said whereever people walked in the Worth valley they would come across livestock.

Councillor Anne Hawkesworth, the Council's Executive Committee member for the Environment, said: "We have, as an authority, agreed on the side of caution throughout this epidemic. Our caution was proved right earlier in the year. I believe opening some of the paths around the Silsden cluster is premature and unwise.

"I understand fully the concerns about tourism and allied industries. However, we could be at a watershed and the lack of a little more patience could mean the end of the countryside as we love it."

Haworth Parish Councillor Felix Ansell said: "There is a debate nationally about how much of a risk walking in the countryside poses in areas where there are no cases, like Lincolnshire, but we are in a different position and the paths should remain closed."

Paul Brooks, Haworth Parish Council chairman, who also runs a tea room and bed and breakfast business in the village, said: "I don't agree with the Government ordering the footpaths to open, it should be left to local authorities like Bradford to make a decision after an intelligent review."

But fellow trader Mike Hutchinson, chairman of Haworth Traders, said he would like to see more footpaths opened.

"I'm not convinced that opening them will lead to an upsurge in foot and mouth. I think too little was done too late in the first place."

A Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs spokesman said local authorities had to have a very good reason not to open footpaths.

"Those areas that can stay closed are affected by foot and mouth or near to an outbreak but those areas that have no risk should re-open," he said.

Bradford Councillor Glen Miller (Con), who represents the Worth Valley and chairs the Council's rights of way and footpath group, said at the last meeting the vast majority of people were in favour of keeping the paths closed.

More Foot and Mouth information