RESIDENTS today celebrated victory in their battle to close off a problem footpath and vowed: "This is only the start".

Councillors insisted an unauthorised footpath which links Redvers Road, Darwen, to a motorway service station should be fenced off.

Blackburn with Darwen Council planning officers have been instructed to fence off Darwen Service Station to stop the path being used as a short-cut to the complex, which includes a McDonald's, Little Chef and 24-hour mini-market.

Today resident Terry Rose, 63, said: "It's a good thing but at the end of the day it won't stop kids coming down the road and jumping over garden fences to get to the services.

"The path will be closed but there will still be land there and they'll find some way of getting onto it."

Mary Jepson, 83, said: "We are over the moon about the news but it's only the first step because people know that this is a short cut now and they will be determined to keep it that way.

"We are hoping that things change and that the street returns to the quiet, litter-free area it once was, but we are not convinced as yet."

When planning permission was granted for the development -- the only service station on the M65 -- planning officers expected the only pedestrian access to be a footpath next to the vehicle entrance to the site.

But the developers built a gravel footpath which ran to the edge of their site and joined an existing footpath, effectively creating a short-cut for people walking to the site via Redvers Road.

Residents in Redvers Road, including many elderly people, soon began complaining that their street was being used as a short-cut to the site, with youngsters using it to get to McDonald's and some people even parking up on Redvers Road then walking to the supermarket.

The residents claimed that vandalism and anti-social behaviour was a common problem on their street as a result.

At a meeting of the planning and highways committee, councillors demanded that the council fence off the edge of the site, on land it owns, to cut the short-cut off.

People will still be able to get access to the service station, but via a longer path which councillors feel will put most people off.

Earcroft councillor Mary Leaver said: "We need to make sure that it is a fence which stops people getting through. It needs to be cut off totally. These residents have been through enough."

Planning chairman Dave Smith said: "There is only so much we can do. We can't put up a 10ft fence with spikes and landmines around it.

"We can make it difficult for people to get through though."

A site visit will now be planned with the developer to decide how to implement the demand.