PARISH councillors in Etherley and Toft Hill have been left aghast after a resident complained their wildlife area is an overgrown mess.
Councillors heard during their March meeting that a villager had written to Durham County Council’s chief executive with a slew of complaints, including the state of Etherley Parish Wildlife Area. The parish council had been copied in on the complaint.
The villager had written: “I have been through this area and quite frankly it is not being well looked after.
“It is overgrown with weeds, blackberry bushes and even wildflowers struggle to survive in the overgrowth. It does not provide a visual feast.
“Someone needs to go in there as soon as possible with a heavy-duty strimmer and cut down all the overgrowth and cut down all the blackberry bushes to give the wildflowers a chance to grow.”
The villager had noted the wildlife area sign carried Durham County Council’s logo and there was another sign which described the area as Etherley Community Garden. She had questioned whether it was the parish council or the county council which was responsible for maintaining the patch of land.
Clerk Alison Overfield said the parish was responsible for the wildlife area, but the county council’s logo had been included because it had stumped up the cash for it.
She added that the area had been created with advice from Durham Wildlife Trust.
Mrs Overfield said: “She doesn’t get the point.
“It is a natural environment for wildlife and my view is that what we are doing is absolutely perfect for the wildlife.
“There are birds, there are hedgehogs, there is everything going on in there – it is not meant to be a visual feast of flowers.”
The resident had also complained about several rights of way being overgrown, about puddles forming at the bottom of the stairs leading to the community centre’s sportsfield and a tractor travelling along a bridal way near Quarry Heads creating a “muddy mess” .
Mrs Overfield said she would wait for county officers to respond to the resident’s complaints before providing a reply from the parish council.
