Dear Sir,

The letter published on July 27 regarding overgrown trees on Spice Hill Road has prompted me to write concerning Warwick in general and Middle Road in particular.

It will soon be a year since the two successive hurricanes, after which Middle Road was cleared. However, since then it has been neglected. Trees and bushes overhang sidewalks and the roadside is overgrown with weeds.

As a result, it’s often difficult to walk on the sidewalk and in places it has become difficult to exit from a side road safely. Olivebank Drive exiting to turn east is a good example.

Some of the offending areas are on private property, such as Warwick Pond, which is National Trust, Belmont Golf Course and the area opposite, which I think may be owned by a family trust.

They all have a responsibility to maintain the area’s bordering roads and sidewalks, but very little is done. I believe the Department of Works and Engineering or the Department of Parks may be responsible for much of the overgrown roadside.

I have tried on many occasions, starting in January, to contact various departments in Works and Engineering and Parks, but e-mails go unanswered and phone messages never get returned, the exception being the person responsible for the Railway Trail, who I have spoken with.

I have on two occasions sent e-mails to the minister and a third was sent on my behalf to the One Bermuda Alliance office, but they fall on deaf ears.

During the last hurricane, a large tree came down in front of Christ Church. At various times over the past ten months, it has been cut back, then the stump removed. Months later, it took two men almost a week to replace the damaged kerb. Now we are looking at a mound of soil growing weeds.

The Railway Trail going east from Khyber Pass is an utter disgrace. Not only is it seriously overgrown, but the trash is unbelievable. The visible stuff is bad enough, but take a look in the bushes and you find mattresses, car tyres, air conditioners, etc.

Add to that the rusting remains of a couple of cars and imagine what our visitors from The Fairmont Southampton think as they pass by on conducted walks?

Warwick needs and deserves some attention. We are once more in hurricane season and if we do get hit again, the task will be enormous.

GMS