WALKERS want talks with the council over a 'dangerous' path leading to Darwen Tower.

The steep path from the Sunnyhurst Hotel on Tockholes Road was severely damaged by the June storms and little has been done to repair it, claim walkers and runners.

Maureen Roberts, 67, of Cavendish Street, regularly takes her dog Suzie for walks to the tower. She said: "It's very bad because there are huge holes and you have to dodge them to avoid them. It would be dangerous to take children up there because they could easily fall down them.

"You need to be very aware of the holes when you go up there."

Maxine Walsh, daughter of the Sunnyhurst Hotel landlord, said the path was a hot topic in the pub.

She said: "After the floods we had around 30 tonnes of debris outside the pub and it was absolute carnage. Even the pub was flooded. Today the path is still looking as bad as it did then.

"It's so dangerous up there and I won't ride my horse up or down there any more because it's so bad. Something needs to be done about it."

Mick Heath, treasurer of the 140-member running club Darwen Dashers, said the path posed a challenge to runners.

He said: "We've used it a lot as a group but we moved our base in the last few months and don't use it as much any more. It's good for us because it's a real challenge but I can see it's not good for walkers.

"The techniques used have been inadequate to improve the path and at the end of the day, we would all welcome improvements to it."

Dennis Gillibrand, Friends of Sunnyhurst Wood chairman, said: "The path has been bad since the floods and a lot of the surrounding paths are dangerous. The problem comes when rain washes away the top-soil and it needs to be rebuilt. It is extremely bad in some places."

Gary Rhodes, of Bolton Mountain Rescue team, said many of the paths had fallen into disrepair since the storms.

He said: "We have very few call outs in the Darwen area but in general, a lot of the paths have suffered quite badly with the rain. It comes from a build-up of mild but very wet winters."

Coun Dave Smith said: "It will take thousands of pounds to repair and that's a lot of money but they are in a bad way and they need a lot more work on them."