Oakley Green, Fifield and District Community Association Ltd
New Hole in the Hedge
Environment Group - 03.04.2009
03.04.2009 - update

 When trying to follow up on this by contacting Wayside Stables the RBWM Enforcement Officer was led to believe that he was talking to a lady who owned the field in question. He was informed that the hole in the hedge was caused by a motor accident and that they were only taking advantage of the convenient gap to gain access to their field.

No explanation was offered as to the mysterious arrival of a load of soil filling the ditch, or of why several witnesses had a different version of events. Wayside agreed to remove the temporary gates and have now also sort of cleared the soil from the ditch.

The real owner of the field has now informed Wayside that they have no rental contract, no permission to create a new access, and no permission to have been storing large quantities of manure on the land. They have been requested to vacate it and remove the manure.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes to comply and if any censure results from such flagrant disregard of normal behaviour.

 show PHOTO    - Recent New Hole in the Hedge

10.03.2009 - original News item

 During the afternoon of Sunday February 22 mechanical sounds wafted over the gardens of Manor Grove and Fifield Road and the fields north of Coningsby Lane.

First thoughts were that the pipeline diggers had returned, but that seemed strange for a Sunday. It turned out that it was actually a blue tractor with a bucket attachment working at the huge mound of manure in the field on Fifield Road which is sandwiched between the Pipeline route and the Mushroom Farm. Nearby was a white pickup truck.

This was puzzling as the route provided by the contractors to enter the field via a special temporary gate seemed unusable because of deep clay ruts and a large amount of trapped water. This made the field temporarily inaccessible.

But confusion turned to incredulity when the white pickup, followed closely by the blue tractor, exited the field apparently through the middle of the hedge onto the bend in Fifield Road.

Closer inspection revealed that a section of hedge had been cut out and dumped in the field and a load of soil had been used to fill the ditch by the speed bump to create a causeway to the new rough opening in the hedge.

Parish Councillor Grenville Annetts was informed and RBWM Enforcement are now investigating the incident. Streetcare have also been informed about the now even more impaired ditch which has already caused increased water problems on the road at that point. They have undertaken to clear the ditch as soon as it is verified that no permission was granted.

It is unclear why the perpetrators of this blatant act of vandalism did not simply approach South East Water in good time to rectify the legitimate temporary access as they must have known well in advance that they would need to turn out the two horses that are now in the field. What is even more confusing is why it was essential to use this particular field for turnout when the large field on Coningsby Lane remains unused.

We await developments with interest.