A PARISH council is battling to prevent the ground around a bench from being repeatedly dug up by dogs.

Earswick Parish Council has been given ‘paws for thought’ by the repeated damage to the grass in an area of public open space in the village near York.

It has tried to encourage dog owners to stop their pets digging up land near the bench in the open space.

It even put up a sign asking of pet owners: “Did your dog do this?” with an arrow pointing down at the ground.

But the sign met with an ironic response when one wit wrote: “It was me,” accompanied by the drawing of a big paw print.

Parish vice-chair Sian Wiseman, a former City of York councillor, said it appeared the problem had been arising when people sat down on the bench with their pets, which then took to digging up the ground.

She said that when the problem initially arose, the parish responded by laying down flagstones to protect the ground.

But the culprits only responded by digging up the land a little further away.

She thought people may have added to the problem by coming down to the park with spades to dig up the ground as well.

She appealed for people and their pets to leave the ground alone.