Mother stages NAKED protest about overgrown hedge on A358

‘I’ve trimmed my bush, now trim YOURS’: Mother forces council to take action by staging NAKED protest on A358 where ‘dangerously overgrown’ hedge has blocked her disabled daughter’s wheelchair for two years

• Jill White staged naked protest over ‘dangerously overgrown’ hedge on A358
• The single mother claims it has blocked her disabled daughter’s wheelchair 
• She wore placards which read: ‘I’ve trimmed my bush, now Highways trim yours’
• Council has now vowed to begin work to cut back the hedge in Somerset

A fuming mother whose disabled daughter couldn’t use a narrow pavement because of an overgrown hedge has finally forced her council to trim the foliage after baring all and staging a naked protest.

Jill White stood in her birthday suit with placards strategically placed over her privates in full view of motorists driving along the two-mile A358 between Tatworth and Chard last week.

In a cheeky nod to Somerset County Council’s highways department, the placards read: ‘I’ve trimmed my bush, now Highways trim yours’.

Ms White, from Tatworth, has been campaigning for council officials to cut the ‘dangerously overgrown’ hedge, which has blocked her daughter’s wheelchair, the past two years.

After her repeated requests ‘fell on deaf ears’, the single mother said she resorted to protesting in the buff. 

‘It’s the 21st century – an old woman shouldn’t have to take her clothes off, walk along an A road, naked, with a blasted placard pushing a wheelchair for some kind of action to be taken’, she said.

Jill White protesting naked to get the council to trim a hedge along the A358

A wheelchair on a narrow footpath along the A358 which is ‘dangerously overgrown’

This map shows the A358 between Chard and Tatworth 

‘After repeatedly requesting that the footpath from Tatworth to Chard be passable for pedestrians, wheelchair users and pushchairs, and after the council’s inaction I decided to have my own personal, light-hearted protest.

‘I’ve been requesting it for nearly two years. We have a fuel crisis and a poor bus service, so people are having to walk.

‘We’re coming into the school holidays, and an accident will happen.’

The A358 Tatworth Road lies between Tatworth and Chard, within the Chard Eastern Development Area, where the majority of Chard’s new housing will be delivered in the coming decades.

Though around 200 homes are being built on the Snowdon Grange site just off the A358, there have been limited efforts to widen or enhance the existing footpaths, Ms White said.

The naked protester warned that this had left pedestrians and other road users vulnerable to passing cars.

Two county councillors have since confirmed that work to trim the hedges will begin next week.

Derek Davies, the council’s assistant highways service manager, said in an email: ‘We are currently in discussions with our contractors regarding obtaining resource to enable the works to remove the vegetation from the foot-ways to be carried out.

‘In the meantime, we will intervene and carry out a safety cut of the hedges. It is hope that this will be done early next week.’

In a cheeky nod to Somerset County Council’s highways department, the placards read: ‘I’ve trimmed my bush, now Highways trim yours’

After her requests ‘fell on deaf ears’, Ms White said she resorted to protesting in the buff

Ms White staging a nude protest along the A358 – in full view of passing motorists

Lib Dem councillor Jason Baker added: ‘There has been a work order raised and I am now chasing a date for the work to be completed.

‘We need to ensure that the path is cleared as well as the undergrowth being cut.’

Ms White said: ‘Just the day before I did my action, I had to get to my doctor’s appointment, and had to travel down the footpath to get there because the bus times weren’t practical at all.

‘The other more scenic route adds an extra two miles onto the journey, and this pathway is the only way I can get there.

‘If you are walking with a pushchair and a toddler it’s impossible, in some places the path doesn’t even stretch further that two inches – it’s hideous.

‘I got cut to pieces on my legs – funnily enough one doesn’t think to put trimmers in their handbag!’

A statement from Somerset county council said: ‘We’ve had this scheduled for some time as part of the contractor’s programme.

‘Last week a councillor informed us it was now narrowing the path so we have asked the work to be brought forward. It will be sorted next week.

‘We’re sorry it caused problems, but we always recommend people use the ‘report it’ app which remains the quickest and easiest way to report problems and lets the council review and prioritise urgent work. Accessibility is considered a priority.

‘Public transport is always an issue in rural areas and we’re working with operators and the passenger group to improve links but decisions are largely made on a commercial basis and improvements very much depend on accessing a limited pool of government funding.’

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