The plain stupidity and destructiveness of local councils – not to mention the waste – never ceases to amaze me. Although I suppose after being so amazed for as long as I have the novelty should have worn off by now!

The photo on the left (taken with a mobile in the murk and drizzle that was today) is all that remains of what was, this time last year, a rather glorious hedgerow that had been there forever. It was home, of course, to all sorts of wildlife and is, as can be seen, beside a small village unmarked road that sees little traffic – one of those that can’t take traffic going both ways. Poet John Clare used to walk this road to meet his sweetheart, I am told, and the hedgerow would have been alive in the spring with flowers, birds and insects as he sauntered passed.

And then last year, the local council, in their infinite wisdom, decided that it was a traffic hazard. Motorists couldn’t get a good view of the road ahead. What motorist they were referring to I don’t know but in came the chainsaw and within a couple of hours it was gone. Note that this happened in the Spring. Breeding season. Then came the late Spring, early Summer rains and with no roots to drink up the moisture the whole road flooded. So along came another group of council henchman who dug a drain and rather badly – as they always do these days – laid badly mixed and short-life tarmac around the edge.

And now, of course, it is a mess. The birds have gone. The squirrels no longer visit. And when Spring arrives, it will look like the same bit of waste ground that it looked like today. And yesterday. And Peterborough council – responsible for this small travesty – prides itself on its care of the environment.