KLONDYKE residents can finally walk in safety to visit their neighbours in Salterforth after a new footpath was opened this week.

Parish councillors and local residents have been campaigning for more than 20 years for the footpath and are delighted to see it in place at last.

Klondyke is a small settlement of just three streets on the edge of Salterforth, but between the two is a narrow stretch of road with no footpath on either side.

Pedestrians took their lives in their hands running the tree-lined gauntlet, forced to scramble up steep bankings if two vehicles met on the narrow stretch.

Klondyke resident and parish councillor Nick Livsey commented: "I'm amazed nobody has been killed on here. We've been campaigning for this path for years and it is a huge improvement in road safety."

The bitumen-surfaced path has been created by buying a strip of land along the edge of the field next to the road.

It is separated from the road by a line of mature trees and has already been named "Klondyke Hill", with a carved stone sign erected at the bottom.

Lancashire County Council's local transport plan funded the new path to the tune of £6,000, with the remaining £2,000 from Pendle Council's West Craven committee.

Its chairman, Coun Margaret Bell, said: "I am delighted that after many months in the planning this footpath is now open for use.

"For many years, parents walking their children to Salterforth Primary School have had to walk on a short section of the main road and there have been a number of accidents involving vehicles. This will improve safety for pedestrians immeasurably.