VEXED residents are set to appeal in a bid to stop people walking in front of their homes on the banks of the Mawddach Estuary.

Residents of Mawddach Crescent, near Arthog, were shocked last week when Gwynedd Council’s planning committee went against the planning officer’s recommendations and decided to register a footpath across their land.

Homeowners on the street have argued that they have prevented walkers from using the path for decades, and have installed ‘no entry’ signs and gates to clarify the road is private, so the ‘unhindered access’ argument set forth by those in favour of registering the footpath are moot.

The debate has raged for decades between walkers and homeowners, with many advocates for the footpath suggesting they’ve been walking along Mawddach Crescent for as long as they could remember and the path should be added to the council’s definitive map of footpaths.

After years of debate since an application for a footpath was put forward in 2014, councillors decided in favour of the ramblers and Gwynedd Council will now start the legal process to register the footpath as a public right of way (PROW).

But unhappy Mawddach Crescent residents have every intention of disputing the decision.

Helen Doig, who has lived on the street since 1994, said that she and her neighbours were looking to launch an appeal.

She has also pointed out that the footpath has not been registered yet and that walkers are not yet entitled to use it, having had a “big argument” with walkers who feel they have the right to be there.

“The council has to make an order to put Mawddach Crescent as a PROW on the definitive map so there is no right to cross in front of the houses until then,” she said.

“Significantly, the Gwynedd planning officers and the legal officers were on our side. They recommended that the claim to make Mawddach Crescent into a PROW be rejected by the councillors – but they thought otherwise.

“One local couple who were at the planning meeting left before us, and when we got to the Crescent they had got there before us and were sitting on the sea wall drinking tea.

“Two residents advised them they had no right to be there, but they insisted that they did because of the vote at the planning meeting, and refused to move.

“The following day a local walking guide brought a group of 20 German tourists across the front of the houses claiming it was now a ‘public highway’ following the councillors’ vote at the planning meeting and only turned back after a big argument.

“[Mawddach Crescent residents] have 42 days to appeal and are in the process of discussing the grounds for appeal.”

The property owners on the Crescent believe the council’s decision to register a footpath will cause them to ‘lose their amenity’ as they purchased their homes understanding they owned the entirety of the land in front of their properties.