A campaign to preserve idyllic woodlands in Stapleton has taken a further turn.

Last month campaigners celebrated after securing a tree preservation order preventing self-styled Lord and owner Houshang Jafari from felling any more trees in Grove Woods.

But now they are planning to push ahead with a request to have a private footpath designated as a public footpath, saying it has been used as such for more than 80 years.

However, the group have been told that work pressures mean that only two applications are dealt with each year, meaning they would have a four-and-a-half year wait.

Steve Micklewright, of Snuff Mills Action Group, which is determined to ensure that Groves Wood remains a safe haven for wildlife, said: "The tree preservation order sent a clear signal to the owner that he has to go through the right processes if he wants to do anything and, since it was confirmed, there has been no activity in the woods.

"Now the thing that we are working on is getting the council to make the footpath in the upper part of the woods a designated public footpath.

"The owner has every right to put fencing up and tell people to keep to the public footpaths, but I know someone who is 86 years old and remembers using the path as a six-year-old, so people have been using it for at least 80 years.

"The owner claims he has put the fencing up because he has a duty of care and that it is health and safety, but people have been using it for years. He is completely opposed to people using it. He calls it his private garden.

"If I was a sympathetic owner I would realise it was a well-trodden path that people had used for many years and allowed them to continue doing so."

However, having approached the council Mr Micklewright says it could take a long time before they are able to make any progress.

"Having spoken to the council we have been told they deal with just two a year, which would mean we are potentially on a four-and-a-half year waiting list because we are ninth in the queue.

"The reason I was given was pressure of work, but it seems quite poor. They claim it is a complicated process and that they only have the capacity to do that many."

Mr Jafari said: "This is a democratic country and I bought the land and will look after it and fulfil the systems that the council have put in place. We have a management plan and I am going to enforce that plan. That particular footpath is not public land, it is private land and I don't believe it is correct that people have used it for many years.

"I have a public right of way designated on my land and people are more than welcome to use it, but the upper footpath is private land and they are trespassing. More importantly the path is unsafe and I have a duty of care to fence it off. It can definitely not be considered as a public footpath."

A spokeswoman for Bristol City Council said: "The council has a number of rights of way applications which are valid.

"If there is no immediate impact on affected land in the form of a planning application. They are dealt with in chronological order.

"Each application takes around five or six months, allowing for appeals and other legal challenges. A footpath application will be given a higher priority if a planning application is made for the land. If the application has not been determined after 12 months the applicant may appeal to the secretary of state. The government will then determine whether the application should take priority over others on the council's books."