The Council rang me back regarding the resurfacing of the River Slea path. I spoke to a very nice lady who told me that they were doing the surfacing before the ‘main walking season’ as they were concerned about being sued if anybody injured themselves. Well, people walk along there ALL THE TIME and the path has needed resurfacing for 2-3 years so that didnt seem to wash with me. I was also told that they didnt do it in March because there may have been bad weather – well last year at this time we had FLOODS and am I to believe that NO RESURFACING work is EVER done in March. I was also told that they couldn’t do it LAST Autumn because they didnt have the budget ??
Anyway the very nice lady probably realised that I thought these were just excuses so she asked if I wanted her boss to ring me and I said ‘yes please’.
The boss then rang and I spoke to a very nice gentleman and after I explained that I thought the resurfacing was being done at the WORST time of year for the wildlife, he said he could see my point. He also said that for resurfacing work they take very little account of any wildlife and one reason this was being done now was because one of the utilities (electricity I think but I could be wrong) wanted to lay a cable under the path and it was cost effective to do the resurfacing work at the same time. So what the very nice lady told me didnt seem to stack up at all 
I asked if in future consideration could be given to wildlife especially if work was being done so near to a river and especially during the nesting season, which was agreed. I also realised that I would not be able to get this resurfacing work stopped so I asked if the work could start at Cogglesford Mill end so that it gave the Dabchicks the most time to hatch and become mobile and the gentleman readily agreed to that. But I obviously do not know when the Dabs will hatch or how long it will be before the works get near them.
So I think the gentleman took on board my concerns and that it may make some difference in the future but my concern at the moment is for the Dabs and what we agreed, although the most I could realisticly hope for’, may or may not help them out very much, so its ‘fingers crossed’ that the Dabs hatch and survive – its just a matter of wait and see.
Terry