THE net is closing on moves to force Warwickshire County Council to take responsibility for one of Shipston's historic alleyways.

Town councillor Bob White thought last year he had done all he needed to get Dog Alley, which links Telegraph Street and Sheep Street, adopted by the county.

"I got a petition signed by 25 people saying that they had used the alley for more than 20 years and they had had no hindrance," he said. Then the rules changed.

Mr White said: "The county council sent the petition back and said they had changed their policy and I had to have a witness statement signed by each person - and each one is four pages long."

Now, he says he has got nearly all the witness statements and will soon be able to send them to Shire Hall. The county will then look at them and decide whether to adopt the alley and take on responsibility for maintaining it.

Mr White launched his efforts to have the alley formally adopted last year. "I was concerned and alarmed to find it wasn't on the definitive map, which means it isn't adopted," he said.

"It was badly in need of repair and I found that the county council did not want to know because it would have cost money to repair.

"We have had people fall and break their glasses coming through there, but nobody owns it."

Dog Alley is the only one of several similar ones in Shipston not to have found its way onto the definitive map, although it is featured on a 1795 map of the town.

It got its name from the former Black Dog Inn that stood nearby, but was demolished many years ago. Mr White says that he can remember as a boy using it as a short cut and it was always treated as a right of way.

Several shop units now line the alley but, because one end of it is too narrow for traffic, vehicles that park there have to reverse out, causing a potential traffic hazard, he said. It is also the only alley in town without lighting. Mr White hopes to present the statements at February's town council meeting ready for them to be forwarded to the county.