ELDERLY residents are demanding to know why a crime-plagued footpath is still open despite assurances it would be closed.

Housing chiefs, councillors and the police ruled in April that closing a 30-metre long ginnel linking Manxman Road and Heysham Crescent in Blackburn was the best way of controlling troublesome youths in the neighbourhood.

But despite receiving a letter over a month ago from path owners Twin Valley Homes to say work was due to begin -- nothing has been done.

The ginnel runs adjacent to the Heysham Crescent, home of 68-year-old John Fowley who is anxious to finally see the metal railings go up. Mr Fowley has suffered at the hands of vandals smashing things against his house and wrecking his garden several times.

He said: "It was supposed to have started a while back We really want to see it go up before the school holidays because that is when the trouble will really start."

In the Heysham Crescent area more than 60 incidents of criminal damage and juvenile nuisance have been reported since the beginning of the year.

And Dorothy Walsh, councillor for the Higher Croft Ward, backed the plans and said that despite the delay "safety and welfare must come first".

Gywneth Sarkar, director of housing at Twin Valley Homes, said: "There is a significant amount of work involved to secure both ends of the ginnel, including improvements to the appearance of the area around the shops.

"We expect the work to begin by the end of next week and it will take several weeks to complete."