A ROW has broken out between two councillors over whether a footpath in Malmesbury should have been left open to the public following a storm.

Cllr Julie Exton, who is the secretary of Malmesbury Victoria Football Club, put a barrier up to close the footpath at the side of its ground last month.

She posted several messages on Facebook to tell people the path was closed as there was a risk that branches loosened by strong winds could fall and hit people.

Cllr Exton, a member of Malmesbury Town Council, said she contacted Wiltshire Council to report that she had closed the footpath, which runs towards Malmesbury C of E Primary School and is often used by pupils and parents.

Wiltshire councillor for Malmesbury, Cllr Simon Killane, said he had been inundated with questions from parents about when the path would be reopened.

He said Wiltshire Council had not authorised the closure of the path, but Cllr Exton was adamant she did contact the authority.

When Cllr Killane posted messages on a number of Facebook group pages and his own website to say the path should never have been closed, he received a torrent of abuse, he claims.

He said: “I’ve had to suffer a tirade of abuse and even death threats over the weekend. It’s an outrage and it’s bringing the whole town into disrepute."

Cllr Exton replied to the comments from Cllr Killane by saying there was a potential for falling branches which did pose a serious risk to safety, and so the path was quite rightly closed.

The path was finally re-opened on Tuesday as Cllr Exton had a tree surgeon cut back the loose branches.

The work had been delayed due to weather conditions.

She added: “If a branch had fallen and hit a child Simon Killane would have been the first person jumping up and down and saying ‘you should have blocked that path’.”