Grass Verges and Green Spaces
The Assistant Director for Environmental Services and the Street Scene & Landscape Services Manager will give a presentation on Grass Verges and Green Spaces in the Cherwell District.
Decision:
Resolved
(1) That the Grass Verges and Green Spaces presentation be noted.
Minutes:
The Street Scene and Landscape Services Manager gave a presentation on the council’s delivery of landscape services and maintenance of grass verges and green spaces within Cherwell District. The presentation explained that different grassed areas were managed differently depending on their functions and locations to create different aesthetic effects, manage road safety and promote biodiversity.
In response to Members’ comments regarding bringing nature back to life and restoring living systems with wildlife returning to grass verges, the Street Scene and Landscape Services Manager explained the potential benefits and challenges in leaving grassed areas to become ‘wild’. Verges did not automatically become wild flowers, rather an expensive process of spraying, rotavating, seeding and cut and collect had to be carried out to get results and these results only lasted for 2 to 3 years.
Some members of the Committee raised concerns that this process was not as environmentally friendly as other methods and that some Parishes had expressed an interest in wild flower meadows. The Street Scene and Landscape Services Manager explained that Parishes had been advised of the cost and short lived results but we were able to offer different cutting regimes if that was practical and preferred.
Resolved
(1) That the Grass Verges and Green Spaces presentation be noted.