ANGRY residents have signed a petition against a decision to lock the gates of Hols­worthy Youth Centre and deny pedestrian access through the site.

Devon County Council have decided that the youth centre gates will be locked at night and at weekends and pedestrian access through the site will be denied.

This means that residents of Great Oak Meadow will not be able to access the footpath, which they have used for over 40 years, between the estate and the park. They will also have to take a 600 metre detour to reach the footbridge over to the leisure centre car park, which they have used for 15 years.

After discovering that access was being denied through the site Mrs June Cann, Neighbourhood Watch Co-ordinator, wrote to Tony Wasley at Torridge and Mid Devon Youth Services, and Devon County Council, but has yet to receive a response.

Despite making enquiries, the town council have also not received any official information from the county council regarding the closure.

Mrs Cann said: "People have been walking through there since the days when the estate was still a chicken farm. To close it is going to cause so much difficulty. It's absolute nonsense to close it."

The closure of the site was not only inconvenient but dangerous, said Mrs Cann.

"Young people using the scout hut or the leisure centre will be steered towards the Bude Road crossing at the Y junction with Sanders Lane. This corner is blind to traffic from the east along the Bude road and cars frequently race around the corner.

"Sanders Lane is very busy from Easter until October and is rarely used by pedestrians because it is dangerous owing to the size of the lorries using it. They create a drag that draws you towards them as they roar past. Our older residents and young children find them very intimidating."

The closure would not just affect the residents of Great Oak Meadow. Mrs Cann said: "Many people who are not residents prefer to access the park via our estate as it is safer for their children and themselves.

"That is as well as the 32 householders who actually live on the estate. This includes four people using mobility scooters, several over eighty, blue badge holders like myself, a man who is partially sighted and becoming increasingly deaf as well as several households with young children who enjoy playing in the park."

Mrs Cann said local mums were "hopping mad" about the closure. She added: "Everyone's unhappy about it."

On Friday, May 1 parent and resident of Great Oak Meadow, Michelle McHattie collected signatures for a petition against the closure. In just half an hour, 89 people had signed the petition.

She said: "Not one person turned me down. Everybody's so against it being locked."

She explained that it was not just access to the school that would be lost, but also to the town, the park, sports hall, police station, etc.

Believing the closure to be down to health and safety reasons, Michelle said: "If it's so dangerous for us to go up around there, and the youth centre is still being used, what makes it dangerous one minute and not the next?"

As people have been using the footpath for over 20 years, Mrs Cann believes they may be able to apply through the Land Registry to get it established as a public right of way.

However, they were first appealing to Devon County Council to resolve the situation. At present, Mrs Cann felt the closure was "putting the whole area in a difficult situation."

A Devon County Council spokesman said: "We have had to take the decision to close this part of our land to the public because it posed a potential risk to the younger children who attend the local school and to the young people using the youth service.

"We apologise to anyone who has been inconvenienced by this closure but we feel that the safety and welfare of the children and young people who use these premises has to be our paramount concern."