Keen walker Barbara Toyne is upset that many unofficial short-cuts that made it quick and easy to get from one side of Devizes to another are becoming barred and gated, as she showed reporter LEWIS COWEN

FOR those who prefer to walk and don't own a car, life is becoming fraught with more and more restrictions, says Devizes resident Barbara Toyne.

Mrs Toyne, who lives in Longcroft Road, says she is now forced to make long detours to visit friends on the other side of town, sometimes along dark and unwelcoming back roads.

She said: "The homes of my friends lie scattered over the town, and one area in particular has become virtually inaccessible.

"What once was a seven-minute walk through narrow "twittens" small gaps between fields and estates, pleasant for musing and good for exercise has now turned into a 40-minute trudge along busy main roads, inches away from splashing, belching 40-foot lorries and an incessant stream of noisy cars.

"And what have all my friends done in self-defence? Got into their cars and added to the number of vehicles on the road."

To walk from Longcroft Road to Green Lane used to involve nipping into the grounds of Devizes School through the gate on Nursteed Road, walking across the playing fields to Badgers Close, and turning left over the old railway bridge.

Now the school gate is kept locked and Badgers Close is barred with planks.

Mrs Toyne said: "Then I walked a little further, crossed the football club instead, getting out at Sarum Drive. Exactly the same thing happened after a very short time."

For a while Mrs Toyne was able to make a detour through the grounds of Linpac until that was sealed off.

She said: "A narrow but long detour was provided with high fences on either side, which seems to have become the sole preserve of fouling dog walkers and litter bugs, putting an end to any notion of a pleasant route to this curiously unreachable part of town.

"It is also quite unsafe for lone females, as one is hemmed in with 12ft-high fences on several stretches and cannot escape any approaching stranger."

Mrs Toyne understands that paths through school grounds should not be used by the general public for safety reasons but says there is a way around this.

She said: "All that would be needed is a second fence alongside the boundary of Southbroom Junior School. That way, children from both Southbroom and Devizes schools would be kept safe and we would get our access route back.

"It is a shame and quite unfair that those willing to walk seem to get penalised. Walking should be made easy, tempting or at least possible in order to reverse the lazy, car-using trend. It is also infinitely healthier for mothers with young children, who suffer the worst of the pollution at push-chair level."

A spokesman for Wiltshire County Council said it could only take action to open footpaths if they were registered as public rights of way on their county maps.

It might be possible that the footpaths, although not registered as rights of way, could be proved to be such because of continuous usage over a certain period.

Anyone who would be prepared to join in a campaign with Mrs Toyne and similarly minded walkers should contact Lewis Cowen at the Gazette on (01380) 722141 or e-mail lcowen@newswilts.co.uk.