Dear Editor,

What on earth has happened to common sense with our Herefordshire Council?

Early on Sunday, December 10th, heavy overnight snow brought down several branches from two trees to the left hand side of Brampton Road. First responder Roger Powell came upon the blocked road when proceeding to a callout. He was helped by Jimmy Bryant to clear the branches blocking the road and they stacked them on top of the other branches that had already fallen on the footpath.

I have walked my dog past here every day and was surprised to see that on Friday, December 15th these branches are still blocking both Brampton Road footpath and also the footpath above the road leading to Herefordshire Housing stock.

I spoke to several persons living locally who informed me that a few had contacted Herefordshire Council to be told that ‘the Council had no money to clear these branches.’ I suspect that some bickering may have been going on with Balfour Beatty, the Council contractors and Herefordshire Housing in determining who was responsible for the task of clearing up this mess, hence the delay in seeing any action. Action is what all Council Tax payers are paying their money for.

Events such as this have to be treated as an emergency. How do the Council know if this site is safe to be accessed by the public, are there branches still up there that have been damaged and waiting to come down on top of someone? Surely an inspection by a qualified tree surgeon is a must.

I urge our elected council members to get on top of the increasing problem of getting tasks attended to in our area, possibly because there is a conflict of interest with their local council work and their County Council work. Either way these events must be dealt with by them, or whom ever is voted in come election time.

Graham Chowns

Ross-on-Wye