A MALVERN school which ploughed up a picturesque meadow to prove a point to dog walkers who stray from the footpaths has acted within the law, Government mappers say.

The public rights of way, which cross Hayslan Field, behind Hayslan Avenue, have been left intact with the remainder of the field churned up by Malvern Girls' College to make it clear to the public that wandering on to any other area of the land is trespassing.

Bursar Sam Hesketh said the school was fed up with walkers treating the remainder of its private field as public land.

"We want people to stick to the three designated footpaths," he said.

"The rest of the area is private land and we hope this measure will get the message home."

People have been using the footpaths for many years, but many, including the Pickersleigh Residents' Group, have been pushing to turn the land into a village green since 1994.

David Goode, commercial mapping manager for Worcestershire, would have preferred the field to remain untouched for aesthetic reasons, but he confirmed the college had acted within the law.

"I've spoken to the college and we've checked the site ourselves," he said.

"The footpaths need to be around a 4ft 6in in width to comply with the law and the college has left closer to 30ft of footpath after its ploughing," he said.

"A few people were concerned the tractor used could have churned up the footpath, but there was hardly any damage caused and you certainly wouldn't need wellies to get across the field."

Although the college has acted within Government guidelines, councillors and walkers remain outraged at what they say are "horrid" actions.

"This land is really quite precious. The meadow has always been managed brilliantly by the college, the hay was cut once a year and everyone was happy," said Malvern town councillor Ann Silk.

"Now an area which had a number of wild flowers and birds and was home to a superb butterfly population has been destroyed through this horrid and crass action."

Malvern resident Roger Daniel was also angered at the college's actions on land where he used to walk his dog.

"No one is disputing that it belongs to the girls' school, but the last time they used the field for recreation was to play lacrosse about 20 years ago. They have spoiled the enjoyment of this land for a lot of local residents."

Mr Hesketh confirmed that now the point about trespassing had been made, the land might be re-seeded in springtime.