WOOD: Decision makers put us under siege

I look out over a huge pile of timber and am now being told that, after serious consideration, the contractors are to "chip it" over the next four weeks.

Right outside my window.

If you have never heard a chipper in operation, it emits a whine that is impossible to avoid, particularly with a prevailing south-westerly wind.

Click here to see video of the chipper in action.

I am also informed that the work will take place during "daylight hours".

This morning it was light at 7am, and last night dark at 6pm.

Is that when the work will take place?

I am also told that the work will last four weeks, unless affected by weather conditions or 'other factors'.

What 'other factors' might that be?

A dispute over who is actually paying for all this nonsense perhaps?

In the letter from the chief executive, received last Thursday, it seems to imply that there could be some dispute over who is actually paying for this work, and that the borough will have to pay and then try and get the money back from the insurers.

(And of course, there is the question of whether or not the cargo was actually insured).

So, all those people who have come down to sight-see the piles of wood may like to consider the actual impact on those residents now facing an indeterminate period of siege, courtesy of our decision makers.

How long would it have taken to have cleared the wood by loading it into a stream of lorries? A few days?

M Harris

By email