A FIVE metre-high net could be installed at a village playing field to stop balls from wayward shots going over the hedge.

Yetminster & Ryme Intrinseca Parish Council has applied to Dorset Council for permission to install the barrier along the southern edge of the football pitch at Yetminster Sports Club, in Brierley Hay.

“The goal at the southern end of the field is within six metres of the hedge, which means that misdirected shots either go into the hedge or over the hedge into the neighbouring field, which is occasionally used to graze cows,” it said.

“With four football teams playing in the 2023-24 season this is going to be more of a problem.”

The net would extend 15 metres to either side of the middle of the goal, the application said, in a bid to prevent balls from embedding in the hedge, “which is a risk to birds during the nesting season” and prevent “disputes with the owner of the land”.

To suspend the netting, seven 5.5m, green, powder-coated aluminium posts would be installed at 5m intervals.

“The posts will be held in place by ground sockets that will be concreted into the ground, enabling the posts to be removed in the close season,” the document said.

“Each post will be fitted with a pulley, cleat and haul rope which will enable to the nets to be raised before and lowered after each match.”

None of the trees and hedges will be affected by the construction of the net, it added, while siting the netting three metres from the hedge and raising it only during matches “minimises the impact on wildlife”.

The scheme will now be considered by council planners. To see the scheme in more detail, and to comment, log on to www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk and search for application reference P/FUL/2023/04213.