Western Daily Press

Lowering hedges not very good for wildlife

- Richard Earle, Keynsham Matthew Cavill, Coleford Paul Thomas, Highbridge Ian Anderson, South Gloucester­shire Keith Wheeler, Yeovil

WITH response to the article on should hedges in country lanes be lowered.

I feel yes, they should be kept cut back but to lower them significan­tly would be not good for the wildlife of which we must preserve.

It will only make the idiot element who think they can drive beyond their own limits drive even faster in lanes.

Also walkers and runners should observe the rule of walking and running towards traffic.

The reason hedges are 8ft to 10ft tall is that the skill to lay a hedge is being lost, along with other skill shortages, to simply cut 5ft to 7ft off the top of a hedge and expect there to be no consequenc­es is naïve and shows little understand­ing of plants or the countrysid­e.

The 20ft verges created along miles of roads would be presumably publicly owned and the cost of maintenanc­e would be the responsibi­lity of the local authority, placing a further financial burden on local people.

Hedges do not cause accidents and deaths, accidents are caused by people driving at an inappropri­ate speed for the road conditions, lower hedges will not resolve this issue. I would suggest that in fact the reverse will result and people will feel they are able to drive faster due to their perceived better vision.

There are, as I have outlined above, disadvanta­ges and costs to Mr Westermann’s proposal which he fails to address and his argument on this matter is seriously flawed.

I would agree with the last point in his letter; we are becoming selfobsess­ed and lacking in the ability to engage in a reasoned argument. The result is vocal minorities are setting the agenda which is a dangerous president.

There was a time when the voters would consider carefully the policies being put forward by opposing politician­s and also make a judgment on the character of the person.

Now, however, it seems you can be a proven liar, sacked from previous employment for dishonesty, be a serial womaniser who refuses to state publicly how many children you accept paternity over, but as long as you say what a sufficient­ly large chunk of the population want to hear you’ll get voted in.

‘Oven ready Brexit deal’. Get in. ‘If the EU don’t give us what we want we’ll stick it to them because we’re the greatest and don’t need their stupid trade deal’.

Right on Boris. ‘Britain will have a world beating track and trace system’ Operation moonshot – doesn’t that sound hi-tech and wonderful? Concerned that we have one of the worst Covid death rates in Europe, the deepest Covid recession amongst European countries? Don’t be. Ignore all that negativity and moaning from the Opposition, we’ve done a fantastic job

They say you get the leader you deserve and sadly when you vote into office a known chancer like Boris, our very own mini Trump, we have well and truly got what we deserve. comply will be penalised by large fines or imprisonme­nt.

Why does our government not see that the the EU is deliberate­ly delaying the trade negotiatio­ns with the intention of forcing the UK to accept a bad deal at the last possible moment? The EU already has trade deals with Norway and Switzerlan­d, both have land borders with the EU and, like the UK, Norway has its own fishing grounds, so the EU has no real excuse to delay negotiatio­ns further.

The Government should state very clearly that unless a similar deal is agreed by October 10, then from October 11, there will be no more negotiatio­ns and WTO regulation­s and tariffs will be applied from January 1, 2021.

Boris, you need to show enough guts to confront and beat our enemies! is not the way forward. Some of us play by the rules and some sections of our communitie­s never will, then politician­s come up with the ludicrous idea of a £10,000 fine, why not make it a million? Are they going to imprison anyone who doesn’t pay?

Politician­s have to stop squabbling like five-year-olds and get the country moving or tens of thousands will die from minor complaints that are easily treated. If we want a functional NHS and services, taxes have to be paid and the country has to get back to work. This virus will always be with us; being frightened and rushing for tests when you and your children have no symptoms is a prime example of why the present strategy is not working. I also see that people are panic buying – madness is still with us.

 ??  ?? Foraging maize at Allington near Chippenham,taken by Nigel Farr
Foraging maize at Allington near Chippenham,taken by Nigel Farr

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