WALKERS Jo Burns and Stuart Scotford are upset after seeing part of the well known Highmeadow Trail being fenced off.

The couple regularly take their dogs in the woods where Tarmac have just started work on extending their Coleford quarry.

After years of negotiations the company is poised to extract another 10 million tons of limestone aggregate from Stowfield.

But it means part of the popular trail has to be diverted to allow blasting to take place.

"They have stuck fence posts across the track and it looks like they have taken a huge amount of land, a couple of acres," said Jo.

"It seems odd that we had the HOOF campaign to save the Forest from being sold off, then all of a sudden the Forestry Commission fence this bit off.

"A lot of people are not very happy about it."

A Forestry Commission spokesman said the track had been diverted in Blake's Wood, just south of the main Highmeadow Woods.

She said the High Meadow trail is not a public right of way but there would be a diversion with permanent way marks.

For more on the story read The Forester.