Villagers in and around Selsley are up in arms after the Highways team knocked down an historic dry stone wall and replaced it with a ‘cheaper’ wooden fence in a cost-saving exercise after fixing the foundations.
The council had promised to ‘rebuild’ the wall, in New Road, which needed repair to stop the road collapsing. But instead, without consultation with District Councillors or the Parish Council, it removed the wall completely and erected a fence on top of a small wall instead – a job costing a reported £200,000 and taking nearly 12 weeks.
Local District Councillor Steve Hynd had been campaigning for years for GCC to rebuild the wall as the initial cracks soon developed into sections of collapsing wall, causing a risk to anyone walking, cycling or driving past the wall. Earlier this summer Highways confirmed that the work would finally be carried out.
But Cllr Hynd said he was “horrified” to find out, only as the cement was drying under the new wooden fence, that the wall had been replaced by a fence. Highways accepted this move was a cost-saving measure, despite the wall bordering a historic parkland and being situated near the Cotswold Way and just outside an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
“As well as the aesthetic change, I worry that replacing a traditional dry stone wall with a wooden fence is just a false economy,” Cllr Hynd said. “Cotswold stone walls, when erected by skilled local craftspeople, can last for decades with occasional straightforward maintenance. This wooden fence will need replacing in a few years’ time. However, my main issue is the lack of communication with the local community, who I know are furious about this. We weren’t told the wall would not be restored to its former standing.”
Marisa Godfrey, who lives in Selsley West, said it was only when the work was nearly complete that residents realised the wall was not going to be rebuilt as promised. “A lot of people in the village are angry and disappointed about this. It feels to them like there is one rule for the county council and another for residents; as a local farmer said to us, he would never get away with removing an historic dry stone wall on his land”.
The removal of the wall had obvious implications for the appearance of the village, she said. “Dry stone walls are an intrinsic feature of the Cotswold landscape – an ancient craft that has been passed down through generations – and rural residents are rightly proud of the artisanship and heritage that goes into creating them. These beautiful walls define our villages and farms. They take skill to build but we have those skills right here in the Cotswolds and the job should have been done by a skilled local craftsperson. Instead of which, we have this nasty bodge job.”
Cllr Hynd added: “To add insult to injury, it’s additionally disappointing that because of this work, part of Selsley West and Middleyard was left without a bus service all summer. After months of having a rubbish bus service, the community doesn’t even have the consolation of knowing it still has its heritage preserved in the form of a properly built wall.”