A FRESH bid to remove a barrier on Ledbury's Deer Park estate and create a through route is being opposed by nearby residents.

A barrier currently divides Biddulph Way from Oakland Drive and residents say a pleasant cul-de-sac has been created by the partition. They are threatening to move out if a new challenge succeeds in linking up the two roads.

Elizabeth Florence, of Biddulph Way, said: "We have seven kids and one of them, Ryan, aged five, has epilepsy and has to play close to home. If they open up the barrier, I've got to move, I fear for my kids' safety."

Her husband Owen said: "A rat-run would be created with cars flying up and down and all these houses here have kids."

Neighbour Emma Shaw, mother of four-year-old twins Callum and Chloe, said: "The barrier has created a safe place for kids to play and I would move too if it goes. With all the new houses around here it would be horrendous."

The removal of the barrier would create a link from the bypass, via Martins Way, to New Street and Ledbury town centre.

A gate dividing Biddulph Way from Oakland Drive was originally installed at the end of the 1980s, during the construction of the Ledbury bypass, to discourage heavy traffic from driving through.

Two Deer Park residents, Sylvia Pick of Woodfield Road and James Cargill of Biddulph Way, are battling to get the route re-opened.

They are seeking a Lawful Development Certificate from Herefordshire Council which would indicate that no further planning permission is needed for the removal of the barrier.

They believe the barrier represents "a material variation from the approved design and planning permission" granted for a link between the two roads when the Deer Park estate was designed in the 1960s.

Miss Pick, who claims the battle could go to court if necessary, said she was fighting on principle.

"The closure is illegal and always has been illegal," she said.

Miss Pick that families were using the blocked off end of Biddulph Way as a play space and a parking space.

"They may want it but that's not the planning decision that was made," she said.

However, Herefordshire councillor Don Rule, who lives on the Deer Park estate, said Hereford and Worcester County Council gained a High Court ruling in 1995 that the two roads should remain closed for road traffic reasons. He said this could only be overturned by another High Court ruling.