RESIDENTS eager to close a passageway used by thieves and vandals may find their path barred by footpath campaigners.

Householders in Old Hall, Brandlesholme, want the fenced footway between Brandlesholme Road and Westerham Close closed to stop anti-social behaviour.

They say that the passageway is a meeting place for loitering youths, and that car thieves and burglars use the passage as an escape route.

Fences have been smashed, and residents say that needles and contraceptives are regularly left there.

But members of the Open Spaces Society have vowed to fight the closure of the path, used by parents taking children to Old Hall Primary.

In December, planning permission was granted for the fenced footway to be incorporated into gardens on either side.

Letters supporting the plan were sent by all 46 homes on the estate, which includes Pulborough Close, Lingfield Close and Balcombe Close.

A footpath closure application is now being considered, but rejections by the campaigners may result in a public inquiry.

Westerham Close resident Geoff Higton said: "It's nothing to do with making the gardens bigger. We want it closed so that people can have a bit of peace.

"This is not a historic right of way but an adopted footpath installed by the developers when the estate was built.

"Some of the people objecting to this don't have to live here."

However, the Open Spaces Society complain that the use of planning legislation for gardens is a "convenient fiction".

Local representative Don Lee said that any closure should take place on the grounds that the footpath is unnecessary.

Mr Lee said: "There is no way that anyone could get away with the arguing that the footpath is not used, but the use of planning as a reason means that this is not addressed.

"The application was frivolous and should never have gone this far.

"We will force a public inquiry with the planning inspectorate and Bury Council should think very carefully before any closure takes place."

Bury Council traffic and road safety manager Ian Lord said that a number of objections had been received.

He said: "We will be asking the applicants if they wish to pursue the matter through to the next stage, which may be a public inquiry at their own expense.

"The process has been entirely legitimate and there is nothing certainly cut and dried about the application."