'Reparation' decided after Bridport Foundry Lea hedgerow removal
The Town Council's hosted a meeting with the developers
The payback for developers of Bridport's Foundry Lea site, for mistakenly cutting down some hedgerows has been decided.
Bridport Town Council has been meeting with those behind the felling and local stakeholders.
The mature trees and hedgerows were cut down last month, in an area of the development that isn't supposed to be touched.
The developers previously admitted an 'internal failure' led to the removal.
In the meeting, they also set out how they'll ensure it won't happen again, and what they'll do to rectify it.
That will include:
- Planting 'semi-mature' replacement trees and native hedgerow species
- Work with the Town Council, Wessex Community Assets, and Raise the Roof, to train people in the skills needed to re-use the wrongly removed trees, the aim being to provide a legacy made from the wood
- Sending consortium staff to carry out local community volunteering activities
- Working with schools to provide student-designed 'hedgehog houses' and ‘hedgehog highways’
Town Council Leader, Cllr Dave Rickard, said:
“We are of course very unhappy with what has happened and made this clear to the developers. We accept that the deeply saddening devastation was as a result of a series of mistakes and omissions rather than any deliberate act, but it was a poor start to their work in Bridport and it must not be allowed to happen again.
"We welcome the commitment to reinstatement of the hedgerow and the other compensatory actions – and have been reassured that these will not be funded from money to be used for the development itself. We have also received a commitment to better communications with local residents, and regular schedules so that we can see what works to expect in future.”
There are separate ongoing discussions with the landowners whose hedgerow was affected.