WALKERS have lost their battle to have a picturesque route, which takes in a disused viaduct, declared open to the public.

Ramblers had applied to County Hall to have a stretch of countryside from Great Harwood Golf Club to Read reclassified as a public right of way.

But members of Lancashire County Council's regulatory committee this week voted to reject the application, citing a lack of evidence to justify changing the route's status.

Campaigners, led by county councillor Chris Holtom, a member of the regulatory committee, are now calling for the 900m route to be included as part of an ambitious pathway linking Burnley, Padiham and Great Harwood.

Coun Holtom, the Conservative spokesman on public rights of way, said: "People have been using this beautiful stretch as an unofficial walk for some time and it causes us grave concern that a potential public right of way has been blocked.

"It's an important walk that links the Ribble Valley with Hyndburn. It follows the line of a disused railway and travels over the river and across open countryside

"However, we have not given up. There is a long term plan by the Department of the Environment to open up a super-pathway linking Burnley, Padiham and Great Harwood and this stretch should be part of that.

"However, by the time it happens, in at least 12 years time, many walkers will no longer be around."

The application was rejected on a number of grounds including council officers finding no evidence for a footpath in historical records and landowners, who own two thirds of the land on the walk, had been against the plan. The county council only owns a small stretch of the walk near the beginning.

A Lancashire County Council spokesman said: "The proposal was turned down because council officers could not find enough evidence to prove there was a footpath in use here."