Lane's roadworks havoc (From Stroud News and Journal)

Lane's roadworks havoc

RESIDENTS of a hillside hamlet are furious at Ebley Mill planners for giving the go ahead to roadworks that could keep them cut off from the emergency services until Christmas.

Paul Fletcher told the SNJ that Bagpath, a settlement of around a dozen houses on the hill above Brimscombe, would be inaccessible to any vehicle bigger than a car until the work is finished in six weeks time.

While it is still possible to follow the steep, winding lane to Brimscombe Hill it is notoriously difficult to negotiate in the icy winter months and is already slippery with fallen leaves.

"We're worried about what will happen if we need to get a fire engine or ambulance down here," said Mr Fletcher.

"The fire brigade have told me they've got a small engine that would fit down here but what if, perish the thought, it was a big fire?" As well as fears for emergency planning there is also the issue of inconvenience.

"I wanted to have some coal delivered and a skip down here to clear out a load of scrap I've been wanting to get rid of but I shan't be able to do either before Christmas now," said Mr Fletcher.

He also said there would be trouble getting a refuse collection vehicle down the narrow lane and neighbouring farmer Phil Powell was not able to get his tractor out the Brimscombe end of the lane. "I'm in a right pickle," said Mr Powell.

"I've got cows still out in the fields that we can't get back and there's manure at the farm that I need to get rid of but the road is blocked.

"We travel that lane for almost every day and this is going to cause us terrible problems. "Everyone round here feels very let down and very angry."

Mr Fletcher added: "It's not the contractors' fault, they've just been given a job to do," he said. "But the planners should never have given it permission.

"It's being done for private profit at our expense. "We pay high enough rates and get little enough for it as it is. "That road is our lifeline to the outside world and they've just cut it off without telling us."

David Marshall, a spokesman for Stroud District Council, said planners were forbidden by law to take into account how any building work might effect residents when making their decisions.

"It isn't a planning consideration," he said. "We're not allowed by law to take it into account when considering an application, whatever we may think about it."