Some time ago , one of the gateposts at Bonehill Gate rotted way at ground level and has, until recently, been held up by the gate itself.
Requests for repair to DCC came to nought, but the good news is that they have answered our call and fitted a new post.
Looks good from the South side and it certainly works OK, but .........
...from the East side we see that it is not a new post at all and suffers from serious wet rot.
However it does the job, and is perhaps symptomatic of the financial restrains on the Council these days.
Must admit it is better than the previous gatepost!
2 comments:
My view is that the post shouldn't have been replaced as the gates are not needed and are an obstacle to the numerous walkers and cyclists whilst not providing any benefit to the farmers.
The gate leading onto the farm track is arguably necessary but the other two are not. The picture shows the gates on the other sides of the junction (i.e. between the track and the fields on either side) and thus there is a small square area enclosed by 4 gates.
If the gates are to retained they should be in the default open position with the farmer able to close them on the, very occasional (if ever), times when they are moving animals.
This problem goes back to the construction of the path when Derbyshire County Council asked the local farmers if they would like to retain the original farm crossings. Of course they said "Yes". The public, including cyclists, were not consulted. Only Bearwardcote Gate is regularly used by cattle, but the others do limit the range of stray animals, which is occasionally a problem.
We did however manage to get in on the act at Egginton (Five Mile Gate) which is just as you suggest, so one out of four is as good as it gets I'm afraid.
To change what we have now would not be welcomed by the farmers I fear.
However things should be better on future projects.
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