Osmington White Horse: Calls for Dorset Council to preserve chalk figure

The former leader of a project to restore a Dorset landmark has said the council should take full responsibility for preserving it.

The Osmington White Horse chalk figure has not been maintained since 2019 due to the pandemic.

Geoffrey Codd, who was chair of a community-led project to restore it between 2009 and 2011, called on Dorset Council to do more to protect it.

The authority said it had no official responsibility for maintaining it.

However, it added repair work was planned for February, including cutting back vegetation and grass.

The 260ft (79m) figure - said to be George III on his horse Adonis - is thought to have been carved into the hillside, which is privately owned, in the early 19th Century.

Recently it has begun to blend into its green surroundings.

Dorset Council has said this is a "perennial issue which always rears its head in January when the ground is saturated, the chalk is dirty and light is poor".

"The White Horse, Adonis - all 85m of him - does appear to blend in with his surroundings at this time of year and lose some shape and vibrancy but this is temporary", the authority added.

It added maintenance work had not been carried out by the authority since 2019 as most of its rangers had been redeployed during Covid-19, "delivering medicines and food parcels to vulnerable residents".

Despite not having responsibility for maintaining the figure, the council said it had absorbed the cost and carried out its previous annual maintenance because it recognised its "local importance".

Mr Codd, former chair of the Osmington White Horse Restoration Project, said it was "hard" to understand how the landmark had been left to "deteriorate in the way it is now".

He added: "It is just so depressing. It should be preserved. It is part of what makes Dorset what it is."

Councillor Nick Ireland, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Dorset Council, said: "I tried last year to get something established with funding, so that the issue goes away rather than being Osmington's version of groundhog day, but to no avail."

Dorset Council has been approached for further comment.

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