LAST week an entourage of five vehicles and a dozen men were needed to mow the verge of the A49 Leominster bypass. They even had mobile traffic control causing chaos for drivers, as they closed the road to one lane, only to cut the grass and trim trees back.

Now, while the tree trimming was necessary, the twice-yearly service from Balfour Beatty is both too little and too harsh on the environment. Because not only have they made many roadside animals and birds homeless, they have also killed off the grass through such harsh cutting.

Also as a consequence of the mower driver mowing over everything in the way, litter has been shredded and blown all over the verge. In short, it looks like a landfill site for the county’s dustbins.

There are several car tyres also littering the verge, and in the layby by Cadbury’s there were some black bags of rubbish which, having been mowed down, are now looking like a field of litter.

Turn the clock back a few years and the verges were mowed by local farmers as part of their obligation to look after the countryside. This was often done by a single tractor-mounted mower machine and the driver collected rubbish before mowing.

Considering we as people are told to look after our country and be proud to be British, the example set out by Balfour Beatty working under instruction from the county council, is demonstrating exactly the opposite values as set out in the Highway Code and Keep Britain Tidy campaigns.

Just take a drive on the A49 to see what I mean.

STEVE LLOYD Paradise Court, Leominster