A FIELD and a footpath, in the ownership of the Duchy of Cornwall, has become overgrown and with the appearance of being abandoned, is fast becoming a ‘blot on the landscape’ claimed a parish council.

Local residents and Bridstow Parish Council have reported their concerns to both the Duchy of Cornwall. Previously the Duchy’s local steward was able to pressurise the tenant farmer to take action to mitigate the problems.

The council said that there had originally been a commitment to establish a management plan for the field at Pool Mill Farm, but this has ever been implemented.

Following a discussion at the parish council’s July meeting, members voted to formally write to the Duchy of Cornwall over the condition of the public rights of way footpath and the Duchy owned field.

Since that meeting the tenant farmer has partially cleared the footpath, but the public right of way has only been cleared to a width of one metre when it should be a lot wider and it does not follow fully the line of the designated footpath.

The route has also been left with significant trip hazards from the partially obscured remains of trees and shrubs.

At the council’s recent meeting the members were told that it had not received an update from the landowner or anything from the tenant farmer.

Council chairman Cllr Amanda Barrett explained that work on the footpath is currently ‘ongoing’ while the problem with the field is still a non-starter.

Cllr Peter Brown, the council’s footpaths officer explained: “The footpath is walkable, but only just as it needs further clearing to make it wider.”

Cllr Simon Brewer pointed out that nobody can go onto the farmer’s land, even if he is a tenant, and added: “He has done the bare minimum to enable the footpath to remain walkable.”

Cllr Brown added: “I’ve been along the footpath and cut away some of the protruding stumps that had been left. I also removed a lot of the debris that had been dumped on the ground when the footpath was last maintained.”

The council heard that nothing has been done about the state of the wider field, which is essentially a ‘sea of brambles, weeds and tall grasses’ along with a number of discarded old baths.

The council stated in its letter to the Duchy of Cornwall: “This situation over the field represents a major nuisance to the local community as a result of the spreading of weeds.

“The latest ‘excuse’ that the farm does not now have sufficient cattle to graze the field stretches credulity given that the field has not been grazed for several years and is now well past the stage where grazing would offer a solution.

“It is difficult to understand how the failures to address these problems, which are essentially a blot on the Bridstow area, are consistent with the Duchy’s commitment to ‘sustainable stewardship aiming to balance economic, social and environmental needs’.”

The Parish Council urged the Duchy to rethink its ‘not our problem’ approach.