SHADOW Home Secretary Jack Straw is trying to bring peace to a housing estate, split in two in a row about a fence blocking a footpath.

The Blackburn MP and leading Labour spokesman took time out from his packed schedule to take a look for himself at the problem which has turned neighbour against neighbour.

Residents on the Roman Road estate are locked in a bitter battle over the barricade which recently appeared on Britten Close.

The majority of residents want to re-open a pathway linking their secluded estate to nearby shops.

One has even compared the controversial fence to the Berlin Wall.

Jack Straw said: "I have been to see the fence and will be writing to the council and the residents with my ideas.

"As an MP my first responsibility is to represent the interests of ordinary people.

"I will be doing my very best to represent the interests of both sets of residents.

"I have a few ideas of my own about how this problem can be solved. "Hopefully within the next few days I will be able to come up with some suitable answers."

Angry parents are now calling on developers and landowners McLean Homes to remove the fence.

Opponents claim children are being forced to walk along a busy main road to catch school buses.

But desperate residents on Britten Close claim the path is a magnet for vandals, drunks and drug dealers and want the fence to stay.

Tempers are reaching boiling point and there have been ugly confrontations on the streets.

Blackburn Council was called in to settle the row but does not have any power to make a decision.

Andy Kay, local councillor and development services chairman said: "As far as we are concerned the path meets planning guidelines.

He added: "Until the ground is adopted there is not much we can do about the situation.

"This is a private fence on private land but it does appear that a small minority of residents have gone against the wishes of the rest of the people on the estate."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.