COMPLAINTS have been mounting over Somerset Council’s treatment of roadside hedges in West Somerset this summer.

Residents have expressed upset at the apparent severity of the manner in which council contractors have been cutting back the hedgerows.

Keen cyclist Meg Sunningdale, of Blue Anchor, was unhappy with the treatment of hedges along the now-closed B3191 road to Watchet.

Ms Sunningdale said there did not seem to be any ‘good reason’ for the ‘hedgerow to be attacked in this way’.

She said the hedge ‘looks so dreadful’ and the work was either carried out by an inexperienced contractor or they were using blunt blades.

Ms Sunningdale said in order to sustain wildlife the hedges should not have been cut until next February or March.

Meanwhile, Minehead resident Carol James said the council had created a dangerous situation by going too far in cutting back hedges along Seaward Way, particularly between the entrance to Mallard Road and the under-construction zero-carbon social housing in Rainbow Way.

Ms James said instead of just cutting back branches and brambles which were overhanging the cycle path along Seaward Way, the contractors had cut the hedge right back to the fence line.

Along one stretch it now meant cyclists and walkers were exposed to a steep drop into a drainage ditch, creating a risk of injury or worse if anybody fell.

Ms James said: “It needed trimming for sure, but it did not need completely taking out.

“If somebody went down into the ditch, an elderly person or somebody on a bike, it would be really hard to get out.

“It was just so extreme when there are other things they could be spending their money on.”

Ms James said the matter was made even worse because the contractors had ignored other parts of Seaward Way where dead branches were sticking out into the cycleway and brambles were overgrowing.

Somerset Council failed to respond after the Free Press raised the concerns with it.