LOOSE horses on the run have landed a golf club with a £100,000 repair bill and have left the greens looking "more like Wetherby racecourse than a golf course."

Calverley Golf Club, which fears it could loose members and shut down if the problem persists, has now got police involved because of suspicions someone is repeatedly cutting wire fencing on the Fagley side of its boundary with Bradford.

"We keep repairing the fencing but someone keeps cutting it to either encourage or push the horses through - it's criminal damage and it's got to stop," said head greenkeeper Paul Brown.

Three out of the club's 18 holes have now been severely damaged by hooves, which means golfers cannot complete the full round.

Mr Brown said: "It's no good to anyone like that. It looks more like Wetherby racecourse than a golf course.

"There can be as many as 15 horses at one time but usually it's seven or eight of them. Sometimes it's happening three or four times a day . We keep reporting the fencing is being cut to police but they haven't been doing anything to help," he added.

Club staff believe they have managed to trace the horses back to a field at the rear of Morrisons' headquarters in Gain Lane, which is rented out.

The golf club's commercial manager Paul Fennelly, at Blackshaw Holdings Ltd, said the club had been in touch with the owners of the field, who had asked for proof that the horses had strayed from their land.

Mr Fennelly said: "We're not going to be the golfer's first choice with a course like that. It could shut us down, we've got about 600 members but if they can't get a full round in they won't want to stay and we won't get any new members. We can't keep paying out for repairs for fencing someone is causing deliberately."

Calverley ward councillor Cllr Andrew Carter (Con) said the situation was" wholly unacceptable."

Inspector Dan Wood, who heads the Outer West Neighbourhood Policing Team, said: "We are liaising with the golf club over these incidents of criminal damage and are taking their concerns very seriously.

"The matter is currently under investigation and we will be carrying out enquiries to trace the person responsible for these horses so we can take appropriate action. We have also made a referral to our crime reduction officers who will be advising the club on what measures it can put in place to help avoid any further incidents. If anyone has any information that could assist the investigation I would ask them to contact us via 101."