The Parochial Church Council (PCC) for Long with Little Wittenham churches writes …
Recently, safety signs have been put up along the unofficial footpath under the trees in Ward’s Field to help protect everyone who uses it until work is done. There are some trees at risk of falling down. These signs are there for good reason; they help to prevent accidents and keep people safe.
Sadly, some of the signs have been taken down which puts others at risk. For the sake of everyone’s safety these signs need to remain in place. They are not there to spoil the view or make life awkward — they are there because someone could be seriously hurt if the warning is ignored.
Please leave the signs in place. We hope to get the work done in the next few months.
Thank you for your understanding and for helping to keep our community safe.
If there is genuinely a risk to the public’s safety then why is it going to take months to make it safe?
I appreciate that temporary warning signs and hazard tape get taken down as, when it last needed doing, I was the one to put it up and replace it numerous times.
I know that the path used by many is not an official right of way, but lots of people don’t realise that and feel it is their right to be able to walk along it. Rightly or wrongly (most definitely wrongly) they take the signs down and so putting them back up again becomes a cycle. Why not just fix the problem quickly instead of having to keep replacing the signs?
In addition, I have complained to the council in the past about the official path not being accessible as it is completely overgrown, and I was told that it was unlikely to be maintained as no-one uses it. So we’re in a catch 22; no-one uses the official path so it isn’t maintained, but when the unofficial path is closed for maintenance there is no other safe way round.
The most important thing is to make the path through Ward’s Field safe for everyone, and do it quickly.
Then there should be some permanent signage reminding people that it is not an official right of way and can be closed at any time for maintenance.
And finally we need the actual official path to be cleared so it can be used.
The public footpath should really be on the other side of the ditch. See the ordinance maps. It has been unable to be used for many a year now due to overgrown vegetation.