THE right to roam, the right to free access to the countryside, the right to traverse pathways and routes that have been used by ordinary people for countless generations is one of the great freedoms of our society.

Alongside freedom of speech and expression and the right to vote, among others, freedom of access is a fundamental part of the make-up of being British.

Those rights are hard won and they should be preserved and respected. Those who go out of their way to safeguard them on behalf of all of us deserve our praise and thanks.

What they don't deserve is a blatant disregard for the success of their efforts. So the campaigners who fought to re-open a Keighley footpath blocked by gates are rightly angry to discover that, just two days after Bradford Council forcibly removed them, the locks and chains have been replaced and the right of way cut off again.

It is a familiar tactic, among those who unscrupulously seek to acquire public land, to fence it off and then argue that because no-one has complained for some time they have a right to its ownership. If that was the intention in this case, it has clearly failed, thanks to the vigilance of local residents who are determined not to lose their access rights.

The Council has now threatened further legal action to force whoever is responsible to keep the path open. They must be encouraged to follow through that threat and to ensure that the perpetrators are not allowed to get away with it.

Only by battling to save our freedoms in what, to some, may seem unimportant cases, can we hope to protect the bigger, more vital ones for generations to come.