PRESTON City Council are considering taking legal action against a man who neighbours say has fenced off a public footpath.

A number of people in Seymour Road, Fulwood, contacted the council after a resident in nearby Lytham Road closed off a path they had been using for years as a short cut between the two streets.

The neighbours sent letters to every house in the area, and collected together a petition, asking for it to be re-opened.

But now the council could consider legal action against Keith Jamieson after the residents' pleas failed.

The council argue that the land is a public right of way, and should not have been closed. And, according to experts, if a path has been used as such for 20 years it becomes a right of way.

One 68-year-old Seymour Road resident, who asked not to be named, said: "I have been using it for 40 years. We have had a petition, and people have used it for 50 years. I have grandchildren now and I took my children up and down this path!

"We've had the right of way stolen from us. One half of the day the path was there, the next half, because of one person, it was just blocked off."

But since Christmas, three concrete walls have been built along the length of the path. And residents says it is around half a mile longer to walk, with many elderly people finding the walk difficult.

One said: "There's a lot of anger around here. He lives on Lytham Road and he doesn't even use the path. He has restricted everybody's right of way, now people have got to go around to go shopping. They just cannot manage it."

Another said: "When my wife goes shopping she has to go a third of a mile further in the rain."

Mr Jamieson refused to comment.

A spokesman for the council said: "We have received a number of complaints about this matter and are considering whether to take legal action, as the council believes that the footpath is a public right of way."

Although it is believed the footpath is not listed as a right of way on maps, a spokesman for the Ramblers' Association said: "Once a path has been used by people for more than 20 years it can be claimed by the public as a right of way."