County Council appeal for funds to maintain footbridges

Dear Jane

Thank you for the email of yesterday that does not move things forward.

I can only appeal to your sense of unease (I hope!) in allowing the collapse of the nearby 18th century aqueduct, brick bridge and Grade 2 listed structure.  It is yielding to the ravages of time and county council officer and member neglect, as we have known for many years.  And the same thing is now slowly wrecking the 3rd bridge over the railway.

Therefore, I would like to suggest this in the absence of funding by the authorities.  Could your officers, with less money to spend on doing their jobs be, at least, asked to organise an appeal for wealthy taxpayers in Shropshire, like me to help fund footbridge repairs?  I have promised £1,000 for the R Rea crossing replacement and I don't even live in Shropshire.  There are very many, very wealthy people who have done extremely well under the last eleven years of austerity, economic growth and, from Theresa May's magic money tree.

I think, Jane that it really does need you and your colleagues to organise and inspire us into parting with a little of our wealth to leave a legacy for our children and grandchildren of repaired and new footbridges for them to enjoy.  We all know you will never find more than a pittance for PROW maintenance, apart from safety work.  Safety work on bridges that take no vehicular traffic means permanent closure and loss of rights of way, as we all know.  Therefore, you really do need to appeal for voluntary donations that will be forthcoming if only you will take the initiative, please.  And work with the district and parish councils, of course.  Target for help all our very wealthy landowners in the county, please.  Especially the owner of the 3rd bridge.

Please will you discuss my suggestion with other senior officers and members of the Council?

Can Pete Banford take the lead, perhaps in appealing for footbridge funds?

With every good wish

Letter to Richard Clewer re Illey Lane public footpath

Dear Richard and Ruth

Is it acceptable for your County Council tractor to drive through an area of bluebells on a roadside verge, when you are promoting such verges to become nature reserves?

Is it acceptable for your Motorcycle Liaison Officer, yesterday morning, to tell me that a single tractor wheel track is the public footpath?  There remains the bluebells between the two tractor wheel tracks where the tractor went over them.  There are no bluebells in the wheel ruts themselves because of the soil compaction from the tractor.

The footpath that I started to dig keeps round the nature reserve verge and above it, next to the hedge.  Walkers are able to look down and across to see the bluebells from my public path.  My attractive path, with its ivy-covered floor in one area, continues high on the embankment and next to the farmers' fences to Illey Mill.

I hope you will allow me to finish the path and, that it will be made an official public right of way to be included on the definitive map.  I will keep it free of brambles and overgrowing hawthorn, until my demise but, walkers using the path will keep down other vegetation growth themselves.

Are you both at all concerned at the continuing loss of rural public footpaths as economic and population growth, with dangerous ecological damage as Attenborough warns us, continues to lead to rural becoming urban with yet more concrete, brick and tarmac?

Could the County Council be liable if there is an accident on this section of Illey Lane involving a pedestrian when you are not promoting, let alone providing, the off-road alternative, viz the public footpath?  And, it now needs to be signed, at both ends, to reduce the risk of injury and death to walkers who might, otherwise not realise the existence of the path.

Should road safety be your overriding concern, especially as more people are out walking as part of their daily coronavirus exercise?  And my path is a very necessary and, up to now, a completely overlooked provision to connect Halesowen with your footpath network at Illey Mill.

I look forward to receiving your answers, from both of you, please.

Yours sincerely

Tim Weller