On Sunday taking the dog for a walk I was amazed to find the Devizes Town Council gang mower and tractor busily cutting away at the grass on the old cricket pitch near Drews Park.

It was absolutely splendid work being done by the council employee as ever but it did rather surprise me that it was being done ‘after hours’ on a Sunday. Also, and this is not a critique of the council, but rather the culture we now have in the UK, as a former dairy farmer it rather aggrieves me to see what is a beautiful mix of what must surely be classed as organic grasses and sages being mulched rather than any attempt being made to make use of and indeed resell what must be surely highly nutritious fodder. Mindful of the Devizes in Bloom and general environmental awareness in the community I then walked back to my house and looked at the two Wiltshire Council maintained areas of grass off Byron Road which are nowadays an absolute disgrace and eyesore.

This is the approach road to Drews Pond Woods and is seen by many a visitor and in its present condition it not only gives an extremely poor impression but is also an ineffective use of the space. The patch closer to Drews Pond Woods was ‘cut’ last week and the residue left on the ground would in my opinion bale up into at least 15 bales of good quality hay.

The other bit closer to the Lodge has not been cut yet but is desperately in need of cutting. Something clearly needs to be done about this.

Geoff Brewer, Downlands Road, Devizes.