TV VIEWERS in Chorley cried foul when the town's popular Astley Park was dubbed a dog dirt dump on BBC's Watchdog.

The park was listed among the eight dirtiest in Britain - but it was all a messy misunderstanding.

Aileen McWey, media manager of Tidy Britain Group, explained: "I sent a list to Watchdog naming parks which had dog-fouling problems typical of the country - the North West TBG office put forward Astley Park.

"There has been a misinterpretation. The TBG has no league table or ranking of dirty parks - we just don't have the figures."

A Watchdog spokesperson said: "We relied on the list sent to us by the Tidy Britain Group so somewhere along the line there has been a misunderstanding."

Noel Melling of the regional Tidy Britain Group based at Astley Park was amazed it had been included in the list of dirty parks.

He said: "Chorley Borough Council has a highly commendable poop pick-up scheme with bins in the district's parks and certain areas where dogs aren't allowed. The problem is that not everyone follows the code of conduct."

Local viewer Lorraine Sharples from Deerfold was horrified when she saw the report. She said: "I use the park every day with my twin daughters and dog and I've never noticed a problem.

"There are plenty of dirt bins in the park and I see many dog owners, like myself, who always clean up after their dog has fouled. I've got a plastic bag in every jacket pocket! And the park-keepers do a great job."

Chorley Community Services vice-chair Maureen McGrath said: "It's very easy to make sweeping statements without firm proof.

"Great efforts have been made to promote the poop-scoop scheme and this seems to be working."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.