WHEN it comes to finding a way around the houses the residents of a Tyldesley estate cannot put a foot wrong. They now have to detour a quarter of a mile to make a journey which was a mere 20 yards a week ago.

The reason for the longer journey is the closure by concrete blocks of a footpath connecting Heathfield Drive and other parts of the estate with Sale Lane.

The footpath fiasco has now left local people fuming at the inconvenience.

Harry Robinson, 64, who has lived in Heathfield Drive with his wife Ruth for the past 37 years, said: "We are very angry indeed at the closure of this footpath. Under the old maps there was a definitive Right of Way known as Footpath 76, but since the area came under Wigan Council control the footpath disappeared from the map, and I believe what is now Sheriff's Drive was part of the the footpath, but nobody is clear on this.

"Now the residents of six bungalows have taken it upon themselves to block off the path in what they are calling an anti-crime measure because they say vandals use the path for causing a mess and a nuisance.

"Unfortunately nobody can find a copy of the definitive map any longer to challenge it legally but I can assure everyone that the situation is getting very volatile because the closure has caused a great many people a lot of inconvenience and discomfort."

A council spokesman said: "This footpath is not shown on maps as a definitive right of way, therefore the residents are not technically doing anything unlawful by closing the path off if they own the land.

"We have advised local residents who are concerned about the closure that if they can prove the path has been used constantly by local residents for 20 years or more they can apply for the path to be put on the map and made a legal footpath."

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