Friends of Ilkley Moor are considering handing out free biodegradable dog dirt bags to thousands of pet owners who walk on the moor each year.

As a Bradford Council consultation on a Dog Control Order – which could see £1,000 fines for owners who fail to clear up their dog’s mess – comes to an end, the Friends group is looking into its own ways of cleaning up the moor.

The Friends of Ilkley Moor, set up to assist Bradford Council in caring for and maintaining the iconic Yorkshire landscape, are now considering supplying their own biodegradable bags to dog walkers.

If the group agrees to go ahead with the scheme, it could supply as many as 800 bags a week, and cost the organisation in the region of £1,200 a year.

Chairman, Owen Wells, claims plastic bags of dog dirt dumped on the moor is a bigger problem than dog waste itself, which is easily disposed of by nature.

Conventional plastic bags can take centuries to decompose.

“The solution that we are investigating is biode-gradable and compostable bags,” said Mr Wells.

“It is clear the best of those are made of corn starch and these should decompose over 40 days, unlike a plastic bag that will last 100 years or more.”

However, he said, the group would still continue to encourage walkers to make efforts to dispose of the bags responsibly in rubbish bins.

The biodegradable bag would ‘substantially dim-inish’ the nuisance caused by those who fail to bin their bags, says Mr Wells.

The Friends are also investigating the cost of six dispensers to go in every car park where there is a litter bin.