The Radstock Mayor writes:

Last week the Council organised a question-and-answer session on the subject of the future of Haydon Batch. If you remember, this was the twenty-acre site of historic mine spoil which was purchased by Radstock Town Council in order to provide the neighbourhood with a much-needed amenity. It was therefore good to see a number of interested people turning up at the Que club to listen to the proposals and voice their concerns and wishes as to how the amenity would be developed.

Andy King, a landscape architect was there to referee the discussions and invited suggestions from the audience as to how, for example, the evident ecological diversity could be preserved without compromising the continuous requirement for dog owners to exercise their hounds.

Plans for an adjacent sports field are well under way and it is thought that this will alleviate the need to level, or otherwise improve the surface of the upper part of the batch.

There are indeed some excellent botanical locations and there appears to be an impressive diversity of fauna as well. What to do about the motorbikes which use the site for off-road racing?

Most would suggest that such an activity was incompatible with the necessity of conservation. The jury is still out on that one but the search is on for an alternative venue.

Generally the attendees recognised the importance of education, of children having the opportunity to study nature in that environment. Representatives of various scientific organisations were there and were eager to endorse this aspect.

Andy has gone away to mull the suggestions over and come back with a plan which, hopefully, will satisfy the requirements of the majority.

I, for one, wish him well in this endeavour.

The Radstock Mayor Rupert Bevan