The long and the short of it as council to decide giraffes’ fate
A GIANT giraffe is raising eyebrows in a village near Ashbourne, and council planners have stepped in to decide its fate.
The sculpture stands nearly five metres tall, alongside a rural road in the village of Yeaveley, appearing to feed from a bag of hay that hangs off the side of a house in Gravelly Bank Mews, in Rodsley Lane.
The silver metal statue, which currently shares the small roadside garden with a smaller baby giraffe sculpture, is now subject to a planning application to allow it to stay in situ - and a neighbour has already lodged an objection.
Anthony Hall has applied to Derbyshire Dales District Council for permission to keep the giraffe in place, but a neighbour who lives near the giraffe, at Gravelly Bank Farm, wrote to the district council’s planning office suggesting the permission should be refused.
Susan Hall said in her letter that the sculpture is obtrusive by design, and creates a traffic hazard as fascinated passers-by stop to look at the giraffe and take pictures of it.
She said: “There are several reasons why planning consent for this life-sized animal statue should be refused mainly relating to being intrusive by design and a traffic and highways concern.
“Firstly intrusive by design. The item in its design, size and shape is completely incongruous and is not in keeping with its surroundings.
“This is a small rural village, not a safari park, zoo or theme park.
“The design is not in any way, shape or form in sympathy with its surroundings.
“Why it is placed in the village instead of at the applicant’s own home is a mystery.
“Traffic and highways concerns the placement of this item is clearly a traffic concern.
“It is placed close to a corner and is regularly causing traffic, cyclists and pedestrians to stop and stare.
“Only a couple of days ago a group of eight cyclists were stationary in the middle of the road, exclaiming ‘Why? Just why?’ when a large vehicle missed them by inches.
“This is clearly a rural road rightly used by agricultural vehicles, milk tankers and fooddelivery lorries etc.
“The area adjacent to the road is not a suitable place for a statue designed to cause people to stop, stare and take photographs.
“I hope the planning department recognises the inappropriate nature of the statue which is completely out of keeping with the area.”
However, another villager, who did not want to be named, was more accepting of the unusual resident.
She told the News Telegraph: “I can see why some people aren’t keen on it, it is a bit conspicuous and unusual, but I can’t personally see it’s doing any harm.
“It’s certainly a talking point. My kids love to see it on the rare occasion we go down Rodsley Lane and it’s a very quiet road, so I’m not sure it’s a safety hazard, personally.”
No other objections or comments have yet been submitted, either in support of or objection to the giraffe staying in place, and the district council’s planning department will decide on its fate in the coming weeks.
Why it is placed in the village instead of at the applicant’s own home is a mystery... Susan Hall