A little local trouble

A weekly round-up of rural rows by Anne Crookenden

Nationalist passions ran high at Bala, Gwynedd, where a farmer's home is likely to disappear beneath a reservoir for a second time. When Aeron Prysor Jones was 10, his grandparent's smallholding was flooded to quench the thirst of the English. The Jones's built a new house on the edge of the reservoir. Now that, too, is threatened with submersion: the National Rivers Authority wants to extend the lake. The NRA says no final decision has been taken, but Mr Prysor Jones is gathering support just in case.

At the Sheriff Court, Perth, a colourful row was settled. A farmer, Robert Morton, and his wife, Doreen, had complained of harassment from Alexander Liddle, who had a grudge about a shared farm road. Over three years the following incidents occurred: a cardboard skeleton was hung in view of Mortons' property; RIP was written in wet concrete on the road; a metal gate was left off its hinges, falling and injuring the postman, and a condom was placed over a bolt on the gate. Sheriff Wheatley said he was satisfied Mr Liddle was responsible and fined him pounds 500.

In Craven Arms, Shropshire, councillors simultaneously promoted a plan for improving the local hill landscape and gave serious consideration to plans for a waste depot there. "It is hypocritical and a complete travesty," said the chairman of the action group.

And in Derbyshire, a path built across the remote Peak Park was declared illegal. A local businessman, John Sinclair had built it for his guns, but will now have to fill it in again. The Peak planning board chairman Martin Doughty said: "This is a victory for common sense."