A DALES resident has been horrified by what he calls "vandalism" carried out by the National Trust in a sensitive area of Malham.

Stuart Gledhill, who has lived in Malhamdale all his life and is a member of the National Trust, said he could not believe his eyes when he came across broken limestone pavement and metal fence posts at Janet's Foss, a well-known beautyspot.

The land is owned by the National Trust and lies within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Gordale Beck runs over the foss (a Nordic word for waterfall) and is visited by thousands of people each year.

Mr Gledhill says he was "incensed" to find bags of cement and damage to the limestone at the top of the scenic waterfall.

"Someone had been drilling into the limestone in several places and there were four waist-high metal posts which had been put in. It was awful to see all the broken rock," he told the Herald.

"As well as the damage caused to the limestone, which is totally against the law, you would be able to see the metal posts on the skyline when you looked up from the bottom of the Foss. Virtually every photograph you see of the Foss is taken from the lower footpath, and metal posts at the top would be in full view and would spoil it," he added.

Mr Gledhill, a life-long member of the National Trust, immediately got in touch with the charity.

He also contacted the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority which looks after the land.

"I eventually spoke to the national park's area ranger Kat Kilner, who was as surprised as me," said Mr Gledhill. "It seems it is a joint venture by the National Trust and the national park authority and while she said she was aware the work was to go ahead, she did not know it had started and that the posts were not supposed to be in the line of sight from the bottom of the Foss.

"I went back in the evening, but the posts had been taken out and laid on the ground. The places where they had been placed in the ground were filled in, but there was still evidence of drilling all around and lots of broken rocks about."

He said as far as he could make out, the work was to improve access to the top of the Foss and create a safety barrier.

"I appreciate the need to make some areas accessible for everyone, but there are places where this is not practical. Damaging the limestone in the Dales is wrong. What has been done up there I would class as vandalism," he said.

However, Martin Davies, the National Trust's countryside property manager for the Yorkshire Dales, played down the severity of the situation.

He said: "We were approached by the national park nearly two years ago with funding to put in a small section of easy access' path to give access to views from the top of Janet's Foss.

"Admittedly, two years have passed since the project was first discussed, but in the meantime we have asked for advice from the Regional Buildings and Landscape curator who did not feel what was being proposed would be too intrusive.

"Whilst work was being carried out early last week, the warden and his volunteers received a great amount of positive feedback from walkers, who thought that putting a path in for people with a variety of disabilities was excellent.

"We have also been in touch with Open Country' which is a charity set up to promote access for people with disabilities, who feel that access to Janet's Foss would be a great asset to them."

Mr Davies said he was due to meet Mr Gledhill at Janet's Foss yesterday (Thursday) to look at ways to address his concerns.

Damaging the rare limestone pavement is an offence and Natural England has said it will investigate the damage.