A footpath crossing land near millionaire Nicholas Hoogstraten's £30 million palace remained blocked this morning despite the expiry of a deadline for obstacles to be cleared.

Lewes magistrates made an order four weeks ago for barbed wire, locked gates and a refrigeration unit to be removed from the public right of way by midnight yesterday.

But the obstacles, which prevent the public from using the 140 year-old path at Framfield, near Uckfield, had not been moved this morning.

Rarebargain Ltd, of High Croft Park Estate, which owns the land over which Framfield Nine footpath crosses has already been fined £4,000 for blocking public access to it.

The company, of which Mr Hoogstraten used to be a director, may now face an additional daily fine until it complies with the court order.

Rarebargain Ltd still has five months to remove a barn built across the path.

Kate Ashbrook, executive committee member of the Ramblers Association, has fought to get the path re-opened.

She said: "If the obstructions are not moved the next step for me is to go back to the magistrates courts and ask them to impose a daily fine on Rarebargain for the amount of time they fail to comply with the order.

"I will also be putting pressure on East Sussex County Council to go in and remove the obstructions which they have the power to do but have chosen not to so far."

The path was bloicked a decade ago and the matter was taken to court in January last year by the Ramblers Association.

A magistrate declared the footpath was illegally blocked but the route, a short distance from land owned by Mr Hoogstraten on which he is building, was not reinstated by East Sussex County Council.

When the council announced plans to divert the route last summer rather than clear the blockages, it received more than 4,000 letters of objection.

Last month's ruling, which was made under the new Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, was the first of its kind.

Mr Hoogstraten said today: "It has got nothing to do with me."