A SIX foot high, chain-link fence, allegedly proposed to permanently block an ‘illegal’ but ‘much-used’ entrance to a dog-walking field in Tutshill may be the solution proposed at a parish council meeting tonight Wednesday (September 13).

The entrance, from Castleford Hill, was fenced off by Tidenham Parish Council earlier in the summer, but the fence was later moved, reopening the entrance, by Tidenham War Memorial Hall and Recreation Trust (TWMT) members.

Nick Evans, a parish councillor speaking in a personal capacity, told the Review: “I asked for views on use of the entrance to Miss Shirley’s Grove on Facebook, as the proposal is due to be considered by the council’s amenities committee meeting this week.

“Blocking up the entrance will take a much-used facility away from local people and I don’t understand why the council is proposing it, when local people don’t want to see it happen. The latest proposal seems to be for a 6ft chainlink fence to cover the entrance which is just absurd. I understand the entrance has been in use for between six and 18 years. I’m concerned that it has been there as a service to the public and I wouldn’t want to see that removed.”

Chair of the parish council, John Powell, said: “This is a matter of safety. A young lad came down on his bike through that entrance onto the main road recently and could easily have been hit by a car. That was never an official entrance - it was created illegally a number of years ago when people broke down the fence.”

Trustee of TWMT, Andy Hossack, said: “It’s not the parish council’s decision to block that entrance. The land is owned and managed by the TWMT and they don’t want it blocked off. The parish council has an agreement to maintain Shirley Grove, that is all. They have no management rights over the trust no matter what they think. The trust has already communicated this several times to the council.”

As the Review went to press, 19 people had commented that they used the entrance and wished it to remain open.

The public committee meeting takes place at 7pm at Tidenham War Memorial Hall.