Bradford on Avon Town Council has dramatically voted to withdraw the proposal to sell Becky Addy Wood.

At its Full Council meeting on Tuesday, September 6, Bradford on Avon Town Council voted unanimously to withdraw its proposal to sell Becky Addy Wood to a Friends group.

It has now reopened the public footpath through the woodland for safe use by the whole community.

At its July Full Council meeting, the Town Council agreed the terms that it would accept to sell the ancient woodland to the Friends of Becky Addy Wood.

FROBAW members formed a limited company and offered to take on the wood after claiming they had been 'frozen out' of its joint management by the council.

The terms of the contractual agreement between the two parties included a deadline by which the sale needed to be completed due to the Town Council’s requirement to undertake tree safety works.

The council said some of the tree works needed to be completed immediately as they posed a risk to public safety.

In a statement on its website, the council said: “At the latest meeting of Full Council, the town council noted that FROBAW LTD had not agreed to the terms or met deadlines. 

“Town Councillors are pleased that the most urgent works were completed between Monday, August 8 and Tuesday, September 6 where eight trees were safely felled whilst 11 were monolithed. This is minimal intervention to make diseased trees safe.”

The council added: “During the winter period the Town Council will be taking the same careful and ecological approach, as it undertakes works on around 50 trees which have been identified as a risk to public safety. 

“The Town Council is only working on trees that are a risk to public safety. 

“These works will complete the emergency tree works first identified from a tree inspection carried out in October 2021. 

“Completion of the emergency works will allow Bradford on Avon Town Council to concentrate on the recovery and long-term management of a woodland which has been neglected for many years.

“Becky Addy Wood is an ancient woodland, which has been damaged and neglected. In its continued management of the woodland Bradford on Avon Town Council will put ecology at its heart. 

“The Town Council plans for the woodland management should improve it so that the whole habitat including rare flora and fauna can be better protected, as well as being enjoyed safely by the community.”