GARDENS in the Forest are constantly being wrecked by free roaming sheep who “use the housing estate as a toilet” due to a historic council blunder.

While sheep invading people’s properties is pretty common in a lot of places in the district, Kidnalls Drive in Whitecroft has been a particular hotspot for years.

Councillors say “you can’t put a daisy in front of your house in that estate without something eating it and then crapping it out the other end”.

And now there are calls to install cattle grids on the main road through the village to fix the problem.

The issue came up at last week’s Forest of Dean District Council development management meeting.

Councillor Richard Boyles (C, Newnham), who used to represent the area on the county council, asked why the district council is not using the opportunity of the proposed housing development at the former pin factory site on the opposite side of the road to fix the problem they created.

“It is just a toilet for the sheep. It’s a disgrace what’s gone on in there over the years,” he said.

“The trouble is this authority realised it granted permission without protecting the residents that were going to buy those houses in the free straying area.

“It was a disgrace that those residents were so let down. By the time this authority realised its mistake, they had already laid the services under the entrance road so to put a cattle grid in would have been too shallow to be effective without digging up all the services.

“The cost would have been the bill of someone else, not the builder.”

Cllr Boyles told the committee on April 11 that the issue could be fixed by putting a cattle grid on either side of the entrances on the main road. It would fix mistakes done by the committee some years ago, he said.

“There’s been so much damage done by sheep going into that estate that we should use this as an opportunity to rectify that.”

District council development manager Clive Reynolds said he accepted there were problems with the existing estate but a planning developer could not be asked to sort somebody else’s problems.

He said it would be unreasonable for the council to seek to require a developer to do works which aren’t necessary for their own site.

“We don’t have the power to do what you require, however laudable the aims may be. Also, as highways have indicated, they don’t agree with a cattle grid in any way.

“I’m pretty confident they would not be supporting a cattle grid on a main bus route road. While they do sometimes happen on some housing estates, this is a main lorry route road and they wouldn’t be agreeing to a cattle grid on that.”

However, Cllr Boyles said in places such as Yorkshire there are cattle grids on main roads where lorries and buses travel every day. He asked the council to fix what it did incorrectly by putting in some of its own funds for a solution which protects both estates.

“I don’t think it’s fair. Ever since we did this to this community we’ve all just said ‘well, tough’. Nobody has ever done anything for them.

“Loads of work has been done with the sheep badgers and it has changed nothing. You can’t put a daisy in front of your house in that estate without something eating it and then crapping it out the other end. It’s just wrong on every level.”

Chairman Phil Burford (I, Hartpury and Redmarley) said the proposal would be taken to a full council meeting as a motion to be considered by all councillors.