A clash of interests still remains about the future public amenity use of Stonebridge Meadow following a special meeting of its management committee that considered its wild and overgrown state.
The site, bought jointly by Action on the River Kennet (ARK) and Marlborough town council, still has no public picnic facility and no easy access to the river bank, the council’s Amenities and Open Spaces Committee was told on Tuesday.
While it was recognised that the meadow has not been managed for a decade and it would take until next year to see improvements, Councillor Stewart Dobson protested: “This is our only piece of land by the river.
“We insist that the public are given access to the river. That is imperative.”
ARK director Charlotte Hitchmough replied: “We have removed the barbed wire fence that existed and to that extent we do have more public access than we had before we bought the meadow.
“But the site does need to be protected as a breeding ground for trout. We have to give them a chance to get back into the river following the pollution problem and then take a second look at the situation.
“Yes, we can make the river more accessible, but we have to be very careful with its management. It will be a real mistake to mow the grass down right to the river’s edge. It would be better to create one access point and then see what happens.”
Councillor Dobson persisted: “But as a town council we own 51 per cent of the meadow and we have to look wider. There has to be a compromise. There has to be a river bank where people can walk along the meadow. That is what we should be aiming for.”
A report before the committee recognised there was a lack of public amenity and recreation, more than 85 per cent of members of the public who took part in a consultation exercise declaring that they would like to picnic on the meadow.
However, deputy mayor Councillor Marian Hannaford-Dobson, who attended the special management meeting, said it was a constructive meeting and added: “It was a step forward.
“There were a lot of things I wasn’t aware of. So we know now exactly what is going on.
“I do feel the whole meeting moved us forward. We do need to wait until next year to see exactly how the management moves ahead.”
Richard Beale, the council’s head gardener, reported that he toured the meadow with ARK’s project manager Anna Forbes and pointed out: “It is not something we can fix overnight. We are going to cut down sections of the overgrown grass so we can start to create an amenity area.
“And we are going to try and do it in a sympathetic way so that we give the wildlife time to move on. We don’t want to go in blitzing and damaging the habitat. We want to gradually turn it round so the grassland is cut more often.”
He also revealed that the two Galloway cows currently grazing on part of the meadow will be increased to four, adding: “But we need to be on top of the grass cutting first, then let the cows take over as natural managers of the grass.”
Councillor Margaret Rose, who chaired the meeting, accepted the need to take back the points raised to another meeting of the management committee and for councillors to be given a site meeting too.
Meanwhile, the council has agreed to spend up to £800 on a Community Notice Board that would inform the public of the conservation activities taking place in the meadow and proposals for its future.
An updated full report will be given to the full town council meeting on September 23 when a statement will be issued on the progress plans for meadow.
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