Campaigning walkers were faced by a four foot high wall, topped with barbed wire, when they tried to use a public footpath on the fells near Oakworth yesterday.

The group, who are fighting to improve rights of way, found no stile or steps in the wall to reach the path across a field at the side of the Oakworth to Colne road, near Keighley.

Ramblers' Association West Riding chairman Rodney Waddilove said: "This must be one of the most brazen blockages I have come across, where there is a footpath sign pointing to a high wall, without a stile and with barbed wire across the top. I have come across some horrors in my time but this is so brazen it's almost cheeky."

He said anybody attempting to use the route over the wall stood the risk of serious injury.

About 20 members met yesterday at the footpath as part of the group's campaign to improve Bradford's rights-of-way network.

The association has hit out at Bradford Council's recently published footpath policy, which says it will be 2020 before all the paths are in good order.

Keith Wadd, West Riding association secretary, said in the coming year they would organise a number of events highlighting bad examples.

"We think people should be able to walk public footpaths without obstruction or hassle or injury and this is not possible on many of Bradford's paths. This is unfair to the large number of walkers in Bradford and it's a turn-off to tourists," he said.

Ramblers at their annual meeting in Ilkley on Saturday are to condemn the failure of Bradford Council to put its rights of way in good order. Mr Wadd said the resolution was expected to get unanimous support.

The Council admitted in a consultation document, published in December, that it would be at least 20 years before some footpaths were maintained, and that a definitive map of the district's right of way network is not likely to be completed for at least half a century.

Ramblers described the forecast as ludicrous and totally unacceptable. A Bradford Council spokesman said there had been a long term problem at Keighley footpath 45. "Research is needed to determine the correct route of this path. However, there is an alternative route elsewhere," he said.

He added that the Council accepted there was a backlog of work on public rights of way, including such problems as removal of obstructions, missing signposts and mapping anomalies. "In order to prioritise we aim to concentrate resources where action will result in the greatest benefit to the public," he said. "It is likely that the resolution of problems on footpaths where there is no safe and viable alternative route will be a high priority." The management plan was currently being revised.

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