Cows from Biggleswade common invade garden leaving it 'severely damaged'

Cows from Biggleswade Common have “severely damaged” a local resident’s garden for the fourth time in the past five years causing her considerable distress, a meeting heard.

The resident, who has lived in the town since 1989, described it as an ongoing problem because the cattle wander down the River Ivel away from the common ground.

The latest incident happened on Sunday, September 24 she told Biggleswade Town Council’s public land and open spaces committee.

You can watch the cows as they trample down a fence and wander into a garden in the video above.

“My garden has been invaded by the cows and severely damaged during the last five years, including more significantly last week when 20 cows came down the river into my garden,” she explained.

“The herdsman, who’d already been called, was trying to get them out, but only into my next door neighbour’s garden. I was watching television when I they appeared at my patio window around half past six in the evening.

“They were herded away on to the common land on the lower field, but managed to get back out. My garden was damaged in 2018, 2019, last year and significantly this year.

“I ring the contact numbers, but don’t always get a prompt response. It’s becoming an untenable situation, which causes distress and destruction.

“How can we ensure the cows stay on the common land and that our houses are safe?” she asked. “We communicate with Fen Reeves, but it’s not always successful. I feel the situation which arose could have been prevented.

“When the cows come down the river there’s the possibility they could get on to the main road and cause a fatality. I don’t know what type of cattle they’ve got on there, but they’re massive.

“To have 20 cows in your garden of an evening is very distressing and there’s no response afterwards or any care to make sure you’re okay because it’s mentally distressing as well. It’s been ongoing for many years. I don’t think that’s an acceptable position.”

She also referred to incidents on Biggleswade Common with dog walkers, two of whom were “badly mauled” by a cattle stampede on a footpath towards the RSPB site at Sandy in February.

Town councillor Michael North, who chairs the committee, replied: “One of our members is the contact person with the Fen Reeves and she’s arranged a meeting with them in the near future and we’ll be pursuing this item.

“You can rest assured we won’t forget about it. We’ll see what they have to say in the first instance and ask them to come up with some solutions.

“Although we’ve no jurisdiction over them or powers to force them to do anything, we can certainly keep on talking to them until we feel there’s a satisfactory answer.

“As a town council we’re concerned about the welfare of our residents and if this is a problem for the town it’s something we should aim to pursue.

“The dog walking is sort of related, although a slightly separate issue,” he added. “But it’s still something we need to think about and provide what assistance we can to our residents.”

Biggleswade councillor Andy Skilton later shared video footage of the cows, saying he wanted to raise awareness as the Fen Reeves had not replied to concerns he raised with any written comment.

But Fen Reeves said in a statement to the BBC that it had been in touch with concerned residents and the issues raised had been discussed.