Landowners prevented from cutting down part of a hedge when local residents stood in the way could be stopped for good - because a species of fly not previously known to science has been found there. Council chiefs have confirmed to Bristol Live that the award of a special nature protection status is pending for the field and hedge on the western side of the A38 Bridgwater Road in Bishopsworth.
Once it is confirmed, it will be a challenge to do anything that damages the habitat there. Bristol Live reported on Monday how local farmer Catherine Withers and her supporters from across Bristol set up an impromptu blockade in front of the hedge all day, preventing a contractor hired by the owner of the land to cut down some of the hedge to create a new gateway into the field beyond.
Police were called to the scene on Monday morning, but left after deciding it was a civil dispute, and the stand-off continued all day, despite the contractor and the property owner’s agent showing a letter from Bristol City Council sent in February, which told them they didn’t even need to apply for permission to cut down the hedge and create the gateway.
