Mixed reaction to Bury St Edmunds Cotton Lane allotments fencing scheme to keep out muntjac

Planners are considering a retrospective application for fencing to help prevent muntjac entering a Bury St Edmunds allotment site.

But while allotments have backed the move, residents of Cotton Lane have described the fence – which was installed without consultation in April – as ‘cage-like’.

Bury Town Council has submitted its retrospective application for 24-and-a-half metres of PVC-coated steel ‘v-mesh’ fencing at the Cotton Lane allotments site to West Suffolk Council planners.

Allotment holder Rebecca Moore, of Westgarth Gardens, is supporting the application. She said: “I had become very despondent about the damage the muntjac were doing to my allotment and everyone else's around. You work hard to end up with nothing because they have beaten you too it. I was considering giving up my plot.

“I am really pleased and have already noticed a difference since the fence went up.”

Ray Bugg, of Huntingfield Road, said: “My wife and l have had allotments at Cotton Lane for more than 10 years and fully support the deer-proof fence to enable the population of muntjac to be controlled. Though the majority are coming in from the water meadows, the fence needs to completely surround the site as they will find any weak point in the barrier.”

Jane Cappleman, of Fornham Road, said: “The muntjac have been a great pest over the years and we are sure the fencing will make a huge difference. Aesthetically the fine green mesh fence creates very little impact visually and can only contribute to the security of the residents in Cotton Lane.”

Allotment holder Nicholas Law, of Guildhall Street, said: “The new fence and the exclusion of the deer inside the allotment area are necessary measures if the allotments are to survive.”

Simon Ingram, of Fornham Road, said: “Significant numbers of allotment holders are losing hundreds worth of fruit and vegetables to the continual grazing by the invasive muntjac.

“No one should have to spend additional money to effectively make their traditional plot in to a prison-like structure.”

But Kathy Steward, whose Cotton Lane property borders the new fence, said: “What is currently in this location was erected without proper permissions, without notification to, or consultation with affected residents.

“No one who has posted support for the application lives in close proximity to the site or has their living room views, both front and side, obscured by close industrial fencing affording a cage-like appearance.”

And David Steward, of Cotton Lane, said: “I have a great deal of sympathy for allotment holders who have lost crops to these invasive, alien animals.

“I challenge any planning officer, councillor or allotment holder to publicly state with any degree of honesty that they would like to have this type of industrial fencing erected in such close proximity to their own dwelling and giving a prison-like view from their windows.”

Bury Town Council recommends approval and indicated it would be willing to replace plants to act as a screen.

The council spent £27,000 plus VAT to install the fencing after allotment-holders asked for it.