THE two-year bitter row over the closure of the coastal footpath at Blue Anchorwhich Somerset County Council warned could take up to 15 years to settle, could now be resolved in a year or less, it was revealed this week.

The council’s regulatory committee, which refused to fast-track an application by the Ramblers, formerly the Ramblers’ Association, to recognise the route as a public footpath, has now been told by the Department of the Environment and Rural Affairs that it must make a decision by October 3 next year at the latest.

But this week campaigners voiced doubts over whether the county council had the resources to deal with the case in the specified time.

In a separate bid to re-open the path, which has been diverted by chalet owners on to the beach, Friends of the Steam Coast Trail officials have begun talks with members of the Blue Anchor Chalet Owners’ Association, described this week as “friendly and constructive”.

The dispute came to a head last February when BACO members fenced off the 300-yard stretch of footpath which runs past their properties, directing users of the £637,000 Steam Coast Trail from Dunster Beach down a steep pebble bank on to the beach.

Protestors complained that the diversion caused by fences and locked gates meant having to use a route which was difficult for the elderly and people with prams and cycles, and could be submerged at high tide.

The path closure was a blow to the Friends’ ultimate goal of eventually linking Minehead and Williton with existing cycle paths and new off-road routes.