South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | July | 29
From the Gazette, first published Friday 29th Jul 2005.
FOLLOWING construction of an earth bank alongside Thornbury's Morton Way (to reduce occupancy by travellers) an amazing array of wild plants and grasses appeared over the months.
I walk my dog that way, and it was delightul to see the variety and diversity of species, providing a habitat for bees, butterflies and birds and cover for mice too. Unusually, tawny owls have been sighted recently locally and this kind of strip along the road would have been ideal hunting ground.
I was therefore really sad to see(July 21) the man from the council doing a thorough job of "clearing up" this area with his machine.
It is now a very tidy, dead area with not a living creature in sight. This was not a careful eradication of problematic Japanese knotweed, for example, but a wholesale destruction of all the plant growth.
Who in the South Gloucestershire Council, decides the policies which determine whether we have dead, manicured areas instead of slightly "messy" areas friendly to wildlife? This was an area which was brimming with life.
Is it that someone has complained that it looked scruffy? There was no rationale for cutting this growth because of access difficulties for pedestrians as there is a grassy, flat area alongside the road.
Does the council have ANY policy when it comes to preserving areas for promoting diversity of wildlife?
Apparently, in theory, it does. The council website offers an Environmental Operations Policy adopted in June 2001, which lays out "aims and objectives for reducing the impact of its (the council's) operations on the environment".
Also, it states an aim as being "To maintain council-managed land by using good husbandry and best practice to conserve and enhance biodiversity...."
Had anyone from the council inspected this site before issuing instructions to chop, or is the machine operator just given free rein to flatten what he will?
I have e-mailed the council to respond and (still) await their reply with interest.
Liz Macdonald. Cumbria Close Thornbury
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