A crunch meeting of the management committee of Stonebridge Meadow is to be held next week following claims that the site on the banks of the River Kennet is being allowed to run wild.
Marlborough’s mayor, Councillor Guy Loosmore, announced the date at Monday’s town council meeting in response to criticism of the failure of Action for the River Kennet (ARK) to control the open space.
It was jointly bought by ARK and the town council in 2011 and a management plan devised for its future, the council holding 51 per cent of the equity and ARK 49 per cent.
Two members of the public raised their concerns at the start of the town council meeting, one demanding that the council “suspended” ARK’s involvement.
Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson distributed photographs she had taken of the meadow to fellow councillors and called for a reappraisal of the management.
She said there appeared to be “no sign of management whatsoever” on a vital site bought for the recreation of residents.
And a report by Shelley Parker, the town clerk, pointed to overgrown footpaths, increasing litter, the fencing off of the river frontage, too few cattle introduced to graze the meadow, and the use of nettle killer.
Her report posed the question as to whether the current management plan was achieving its objectives.
The Councillor Bryan Castle, who chairs the council’s Amenities and Open Spaces Committee and is one of the two town council members of the management committee, welcomed the opportunity to find out the facts.
“The whole purpose of the meeting is to have an update from ARK as to how they see the management going. It is clearly a listening session.”
He said he had invited Councillor Hannaford-Dobson to attend the meeting in the absence on holiday of Councillor Margaret Rose, the council’s second trustee on the management committee.
Mr Castle later told Marlborough News Online that the agreement between ARK and the town council did not allow either party to “suspend” the other.
The chairman of the management committee had no casting vote and it was down to joint agreement to decide the meadow’s future.
Charlotte Hitchmough, director of ARK, told Marlborough News Online: “ARK and the town council have a regular meetings to discuss progress at the Stonebridge. The next of these regular meetings is next week.
“The town council are an active partner in the management of the meadow, for instance they have responsibility for mowing the footpaths and emptying the litter bins.
“Progress to establish a beautiful meadow balancing the enjoyment of people with ecological diversity has been much slower than we would desire but is a long term project. ARK are recording excellent species counts and we know numerous people enjoy walks across the meadow. ARK will continue to work closely with the town council and its advisors and will take account of any views expressed to it, as it always has done.”
Near Naked Men in pink on charity cycle challenge stop off in Marlborough
