VILLAGERS in Rooksmoor say their children's safety is at risk after a local mill owner fenced off access to a well-used footpath.

Around 40 residents gathered at Rooksmoor Mill on Saturday to protest after the path - used for decades to cross a weir - was unexpectedly blocked with a wire fence.

"The path leads to a cycle track which children use to get to school," explained Nick Beardsley, a father-of-three who is also spokesman for Rooksmoor Residents' Association.

"The community has used the footpath for 30 or 40 years.

"Now they have to go down the busy A46 and up Selsley Hill which is very dangerous."

Residents have been campaigning for a pedestrian crossing outside the mill since 11-year-old Scott Cook was killed there in April last year.

They have since asked the county council to list the path as a public footpath to ensure it remains open.

But businessman Mike Conroy - who owns the mill - told the SNJ he had to block the route because a structural survey of the land in October last year found the path was unsuitable for public use.

"The basic thing is that this is not a public footpath and I have a duty of care," said Mr Conroy, 57, from Nailsworth.

"It's a very narrow path and it's over three mill races making it a very hazardous area."

Mr Conroy hopes to diffuse the row in the near future by offering residents an alternative route across his land which also leads to the cycle path.

Gloucestershire County Council sent a public rights of way officer to visit the site on Monday following complaints about the fence.

The authority is still looking into the legal status of the path.

Back in September Rooksmoor residents found themselves at loggerheads with Andrew Cooper, a prospective developer of Mr Conroy's land.

They objected to plans to develop the mill into a five-storey building including 66 flats, a restaurant and gymnasium.