Wednesday 7 March 2007

News just in!

Had this email from Malcolm Monie of the Whitchurch Water Vole Group:

Geof Brown of Property Sevices at NSDC has confirmed, after consulting their legal department, that the grass and bank is NSDC's.

So no one's supposed to interfere with it without going through North Shropshire District Council and the Environment Agency. Glad that's clarified.

The place is looking awful now because every scrap of rubbish shows up, and the trolley's still there merrily accumulating debris. Sometimes it's hard to keep positive, but I really hate pessimism because it saps your energy. I'll just have to get out there with my litter-picker.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You’re right positive thoughts and positive actions. It may seem a bit off, as Tescos are being so co-operative on the gardening front, but has anyone approached NSDC about trolleys yet? I did e-mail them earlier in the week to enquire how one goes about reporting these wandering souls, but as yet I’ve had no response.

Litter picking can be therapeutic – in small doses.

Kate said...

I've got confidence in Paul Birkenhead, the manager at Whitchurch Tesco. I know he's trying hard for coin-release trolleys, so I'm going to hang on.

Ian Sturton at NSDC (not sure which dept he's in) is really up on good practice with regard to water voles. He can quote the book. It's very reassuring.

Anonymous said...

Good stuff. And you're quite right - consultation before confrontation every time!

And there seems loads of progress this week anyway.

Anonymous said...

AllanHas anyone seen any sign of the water voles since the undergrowth was cut as short as my gardem lawn?

I cannot find as much as a paw print.

Just imagine what it must have been like for any vole when the strimmers were used. I hope it hasn't scared them away.

Kate said...

There's nothing we can do except cross our fingers.

I still can't believe, after all the community interest in the voles last year, all the local press coverage, the BBC coming to film twice, and several radio broadcasts about the site, that this extreme strimming managed to take place. If only I'd been down there that day!