YOUTH football managers say they are frustrated a landowner is blocking attempts to build a footpath for their young players next to a busy road.

Nicholas Murphy-Whymark, under-eights manager at Wivenhoe Town Football Club, said he fears for the safety of youngsters coming to the ground in Broad Lane.

He says Elmstead Road is extremely busy but there is no path, which means people walking there have to use the road.

After years of campaigning, Essex County Council agreed to make the path a high priority.

It even put forward the funding to build the footpath.

But the campaign has hit the buffers after a private landowner, a Mr Woolf, refused to give permission for the path, claiming he plans to develop the area.

Mr Murphy-Whymark said: “We have around 600 children and their families coming to the football ground every weekend.

“We want to encourage them to walk and cycle to the ground because that is what sport is all about, it keeps them fit and it stops too many cars causing congestion and pollution in the area too. “Our main concern is these children’s safety.

“It is a dangerous and busy road and we feel not having this footpath is putting these youngsters’ lives at risk.”