West Berkshire Council's Rights of Way Officers have provided the following update on works to improve our Rights of Way. Beedon Parish Council is supporting the work with a £1,000 contribution which was donated by a film company using the area and have allocated a further £1,000 for future work. The Parish Council would like to thank residents who report issues to the Rights of Way team as these reports are recorded and whilst not all are actioned at the time, they are considered when looking at long term projects such as the work outlined below.

From 17th Jan 2024 work will commence on BEED/22/3.  This will be mostly vegetation and tree works to re-align the carriageway of the byway back to its original route.  There is nothing being removed permanently, rest assured that all works are coppicing, pollarding or dry hedge lay. 

From March onwards there will be a program of maintenance for the next few years on BEED/22/1, 2, 3, 4, & 5 to improve accessibility, prevent vehicular damage and improve biodiversity.  The aim is to also reduce ongoing maintenances costs in the future.

Starting next week, work on BEED/9/5 and BEED/11/2 will also commence as part of the long-awaited improvements to the Beedon circular walk. The long-term aim is to improve the surfaces. Whilst no work at this stage is being done to the surfaces, we are doing work that should address the cause of the surface issues, that being the over-growth of vegetation.

BEED/9/5 will have selective coppicing, pollarding and scrub clearance with the aim of improving clearance for equestrians, allowing more light to the surface, re-aligning route where required, increasing bio-diversity and hopefully reducing longer term maintenance. Arisings will for habitat piles locally, and not be removed from the area.

The work to BEED/11/2 will be much more severe in its appearance. The grown out hedge will be coppiced to ground level, and a large amount of scrub removed.  The aims are twofold.  Primarily it will allow light in onto the surface of the path so it can dry, and suitable pants can grow.  Secondary, is the regeneration of the hedge which is almost fully grown out and will longer term die with no action.  We expect full basal regrowth producing a denser, lover hedge that should be more valuable for a wider range of wildlife.  These works might cause some people alarm, but they are being done to benefit the environment, wildlife and bio diversity rather than damage it.  The works are being done by specialist contractors who usually work with wildlife trusts in nature reserves areas of conservation value.  We hope to have some signage to inform the public about the purpose of these works, but it may not be in place at the start of the project.