ILKLEY Moor visitors are being warned about the risk of starting camp fires after rubbish and the remains of a fire were discovered on the protected landscape.

Members of the Friends of Ilkley Moor spent several days last week hauling rubbish – ranging from dumped traffic cones to abandoned food – from a scenic spot next to Backstone Beck.

They were also dismayed to find a fence built by the Friends had been broken and the wood used to start a camp fire.

The group have joined Bradford Council Countryside and Rights of Way manager, Danny Jackson, in warning visitors about littering and causing damage to the sensitive landscape of the moor.

Landowner, Bradford Council, continues to work with other organisations to revive acres of the moor badly damaged by the week-long fire that broke out in summer 2006.

Camping is prohibited on the moor by a bylaw, which has been in place since Victorian times.

But evidence is often found during the summer months of people staying overnight on the moor, leaving smouldering disposable barbecues behind them, or starting camp fires.

Mr Jackson said: "The message is, whilst the weather is warm and dry in the summer months, the risk of fire is higher.

"We're particularly on our guard against things like camping on the moor, lighting fires and having disposable barbecues up there."

The Friends of Ilkley Moor were alerted by a member of the public to the rubbish dumped on the moor, and members, including chairman Owen Wells, went to the spot to tidy up themselves.

Mr Wells said: "It is very strange the young people involved were strong enough to carry a heavy sack of potatoes up onto the Moor to bake, strong enough to carry five heavy traffic cones from the roadworks in Maxwell Road (which were then dumped in the stream), and strong enough to break several rails from the fence, which we had just repaired on Cowpasture Road (to make their camp fire), but so enfeebled by the night on the Moor they could not carry their rubbish home."

Among the items left behind was a set of keys with a rubber key fob in the shape of a gecko.

"We shall be happy to restore the keys to their rightful owner on receipt of a suitable apology for the damage done, and the rubbish left for us to clear up," Mr Wells added.