Residents living beside a bridge at a Dartmoor beauty spot are calling on the parish council to strim the area as a matter of urgency – condemning an experiment in rewilding as ‘a total mess’.

Mike Spry, who lives beside Huckworthy Bridge over the river Walkham near Walkhampton, has criticised the decision taken by Burrator Parish Council last autumn to delay cutting the area of grass over the summer to allow wildflowers to flourish.

Mike, who has lived in the spot for 37 years, said the area once enjoyed by picnicking families was now so overgrown it was being shunned by visitors and locals.

He said: ‘Huckworthy boasts a beautiful riverbank, a joy for people to sit either on the council-owned bench or on the grass with their families enjoying picnicking, messing about in the river, swimming etc – as a Danish visitor once said – it was paradise.

‘Sadly, the entire area is now dreadful, totally overgrown by long grass, weeds and looking unsightly and uncared for which will undoubtedly prevent the growth of the existing wildflowers and any new plantings. What is particularly sad is that we have not seen a family group using the riverbank this year although swimmers do still brave the nettles.’

He added: ‘It seems amazing that the council has been persuaded to follow this route, one that effectively deprives the public of this small, beautiful amenity in the hope that there will be a marginal environmental gain.’

Peter Armstrong, who also lives near Huckworthy Bridge, said: ‘It does me no harm whatsover, I just pass it on the way to my house, but it is a public amenity. I have helped maintain the wooden bench that is there, I put it back together, but people aren’t using it anymore because it is a wasteland.

‘We used to get painters coming down there and sitting and painting it and that isn’t happening anymore. The so-called wildflowers and the trees and the shrubs will grow up and the whole area will become unusable.’

A parish council spokesperson confirmed that the area was part of a wider rewilding project in the parish, which also includes areas in Meavy, Walkham and Dousland.

‘The parish council has been trialling a rewilding project in various areas of the parish,’ they said. ‘If anyone who has concerns would like to contact the parish council it can be reviewed. It is not a cut and dried thing.’