NASA admits even its new super-powerful space telescope won't be able to peer through the riverbank weeds on Cocklemoor this summer to spot anyone in trouble on the water.
There are no further details.
No! There are! Read On!
[rant warning - you may want to log out at this point]
Carry On Langport can only repeat what we said last summer and the summer before. The [town council] claim that it's a nesting area for birds is ludicrous and daft on several levels.
THERE NOW FOLLOWS DAFTNESS ON SEVERAL LEVELS:
1) birds do not nest in stingers and rapeseed, unless a new species has been discovered.
2) that little strip of weeds runs alongside the footpath, frequented by dogs and people 7 days a week. Unless you're Rod Hull & Emu, you wouldn't be brave enough to nest there.
3) if it is a habitat, there are hundreds of miles of riverbank birds can use, we are only talking about clearing the stretch between where the Duchess of Cocklemoor moors and Bow Bridge.
4) if the district council contractors who cut the grass also cut the edges/bank on every visit then it wouldn't get that high in the first place and so wouldn't even be a habitat.
NB - in early spring 2022 the district council contractors were asked by a passer-by why they weren't cutting the bank which, back then, was only just beginning to grow...."we've been asked not to because of nesting birds" was the answer.
Grrrrrrrrrrr!
and finally why cut it, what's all the fuss about?
Because by installing pontoons and steps in to the water our town council is actively encouraging people to use the river. Since the 3-4 year-long 'refusal' to cut that 5-6 foot high wall of weeds back (or let it grow in the first place) there have now been at least 4 recorded incidents of people in trouble on the water along that stretch who could not be seen by their friends and families up on the bank.
In one case, one woman only raised the alarm because she was standing on one of the benches taking a photograph when she saw a child going under. His friends were on the grass behind the wall of weeds blissfully unaware there was even a problem.
This, dear reader, is the crux of the entire argument. Would you take your children to a play area with a 6-foot wall around it so that you could only hear but not actually see what they're doing? and that's on land! We're talking about not being able to see people/children playing on a flowing river!
(Unless you stand on one of the benches, of course)
A few summers ago, some Cocklemoor users even offered to strim parts of that stretch back for free to make it safer. Volunteers were all ready to spring in to action. Carry On Langport even suggested getting the scythers in from the Green Fair at Thorney. Great publicity stunt! The beer, coffee and bacon sarnies would've all been laid on too!
The Town Council's response: Not interested. "We must protect the birds"
😂
Forget the kids then!
Here in 2022 we have some new town councillors. Let's see if any of them along with the old-timers read this, realise how daft and dangerous the policy is and think it's worth a u-turn.
Fingers crossed eh.
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