The road has been divided in two by a metal fence ever since the new estate was started eight years ago, but now Lincolnshire County Council say it will be opened up within a few weeks.


Last week, The Mail highlighted the case of an ambulance being delayed reaching a patient's house because their sat nav equipment, which shows the road as a through road, took them to the wrong side of the fence, and delayed them reaching their destination by 10 minutes.


Anthony Sims said if the road was opened up it would be 'the bypass Market Rasen has never had.'


"We've already had loads of traffic come through on race days but now they have to turn back," he said.


Neighbour Michael Harper said that if it opens, the road will get much busier with school buses, residents of Legsby Road and race traffic all using the road, as well as many people using it a short cut to Tesco and to avoid the Oxford Street/Willingham Road traffic lights.


"For the safety of everyone and our own peace of mind, I would prefer to keep it closed," he said.


Both men, who said they understood the road would remain a cul de sac when they bought their houses, insisted that even if the road was opened, it had to stay closed at least until all the building work has been completed on the road leading off The Ridings and Beechers Way.



The new part of the estate which comes off Linwood Road, was started in 2000 and is still going on.


Mr Sims said that if the 'new' part of The Ridings was renamed Beechers Way, which it runs into anyway, and bollards were erected between that road and the original The Ridings, then maps and sat nav systems would recognise it as two different roads.


West Lindsey District Council said the original planning permission was for The Ridings to be a through road. They said they were aware of the fence and had asked the developer to remove it.


Lincolnshire County Council Highways Department has said the road will be opened up in the next few weeks.