IT is a footpath people in a North Yorkshire village say they have depended on for decades - but now developers have fenced it off.

Locals say that hundreds of residents have used the path - which connects the Beech Grove housing estate and Kirkgate in Sherburn-in-Elmet, to the village's health centre - since about 1950.

But developers, who are building 14 luxury flats on the site, have put a metal gate on the track, as well as a fence - prompting fears among residents that they will not be able to use the footway again.

Sherburn-in-Elmet parish councillor Malcolm Dowson said the alternative route to the surgery was private and closed at night.

People now have to climb up a left-right steep incline to access the centre.

Mr Dowson said this was quite a walk for elderly people. "I can't go into the village without somebody saying to me: What are you going to do about the footpath?' "This is causing a lot of disturbance in the local area. I won't sit back and let it happen in the local community."

He said he was determined to see if it was possible to have the gate and fence removed, so public access to the path could be restored.

Jack Natress, who lives next to the development, said: "A lot of elderly people on the housing estate use the path, and have done for about 60 years.

"People depend on it - those who have been shopping in York or Leeds, alight from buses in Kirkgate and then use the path to get to Beech Grove where they live.

"Now it's closed, they've got to walk the long way round. Also, a lot of children use it to get to Hungate Primary School."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire County Council said: "This path is not recorded as an official public right of way, so if the developers have bought it then they have the right of way, and local people don't have the right to use the path anymore.

"However, if the path has been used publicly for more than 20 years, then the parish council can call this move into question.

"It would need to show evidence of public use - this would then start an inquiry process."

A spokesman for GMS Developments, which is building the apartments, said: "This footpath has been shut for almost two years, since after the developers acquired the site in April 2005.

"It's not the only way to get into town - there's also the main roadway.

"People have been accessing the doctor's surgery for the last two years without an issue.

"We are willing to discuss access for elderly people with those residents if they wish to do so."