CONCERNS were raised about the state of the ‘gateway to Cornwall’ at a meeting of Calstock Parish Council last week, sparking a call to landowners to better maintain their hedgerows.

Issues of overgrowing hedges and vegetation around Newbridge in Gunnislake and the state of the ancient bridge were brought up at a meeting of the full council.

Cllr Jim Wakem said: ‘We were told when they were doing the permanent repairs on the bridge that they would do a clean up at the same time but it still hasn’t been done. It is the gateway into Cornwall and it looks the worst it has ever been.’

Cllr Wakem said the A390 on the Cornish side of the bridge was so overgrown that it was becoming a single track road, especially for large commercial vehicles. With the opening of the new Tesco store in Tavistock, the amount of large vehicles using the road would increase.

‘The arm of the street light is nearly buried in the hedgerow,’ said Cllr Wakem.

‘I think that part of the A390 needs attention and we should get in touch with highways as a matter of urgency.’

Cllr Lee Manning said he believed it was the responsibility of the landowners to ensure that the hedgerows were trimmed and kept off the road to a height of 17 or 17.5 feet above the highway, not Cornwall Council.

Councillors also asked about when the last major structural survey was done on the bridge.

Cllr Mike Greenwood said: ‘They do send divers down every few years. I know Devon Highways who look after the bridge have got it in their system to do some work on it.

‘The idea was they were going to be doing some re-pointing, vegetation clearing etc at some point this year, but I haven’t seen any evidence of it yet.’

Cllr Wakem added: ‘The bridge deserves to be treated better than it is getting at the moment.’

It was agreed that the parish clerk would alert Cornwall Council to the issues and ask the council to write to the householders to encourage them to cut the vegetation back from the highway. It was also agreed that the clerk would contact Devon County Council about the overgrowth and state of the bridge in general.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Council told the Times: ‘It has always been the responsibility of landowners to manage and maintain their own property and field boundary hedges and to prevent them from becoming a safety hazard to users of the public highway.’

Guidance on hedge management can be found on the council’s website at www.cornwall.gov.uk/environment-and-planning/trees-hedges-and-woodland/hedges/field-hedge-management/

A spokesperson from Devon County Council said: ‘Other than recently removing a tree, the only other thing planned is to repair a parapet which was damaged a couple of months ago, but we are waiting until the summer traffic subsides as the work will require traffic lights, which would case too much disruption at the moment.’