Did you get involved in “No Mow May”? If so, you may like to continue your great work of helping support wildlife and boosting pollination by joining “Let it Bloom June”.
Let it Mow May, organised by wild plant conservation charity Plantlife encouraged people to say no to mowing during the month of May to let wildflowers bloom and encourage pollinators.
We supported it by leaving all of Waverley’s parks and open spaces, housing sites, amenity areas and verges uncut; the only areas that were mowed were sports pitches, playgrounds and senior living housing sites. In addition, and as part of the council’s pesticide policy and action plan, there was manual removal of weeds from hard surfaces, playgrounds and other areas rather than the use of herbicides.
As we move through June, we are continuing to let the wildflowers thrive in many of our parks, open spaces and roadside verges across the borough with some exceptions; we will resume grass cutting at housing sites which only have a communal garden as well as continuing to cut the grass at senior living sites, in playgrounds and on sports pitches. We will also ensure paths are kept clear through a number of our parks and amenity areas in order to help with social distancing. Grass cutting will also be resumed in our cemetery and closed churchyards.
Councillor Liz Townsend, Waverley Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Economic Development, Parks & Leisure, said: “We have received a lot of support from residents, many of whom have taken part themselves by shutting their mower away in the shed, myself included! It has been wonderful to see the wildflowers bloom around Waverley, providing such a feast for pollinators and we hope residents will continue getting involved in whatever way they can.
“As a council with an ambitious climate emergency action plan and as part of our pledge to reduce the use of pesticides, we are also continuing our trial of pesticide-free weed control at a number of sites throughout the borough. Fantastic news for our residents and our environment too.”
Waverley Borough Council has already enhanced a number of areas over the past year, including increasing meadow and wildflower areas to over 183,000 m2 to improve biodiversity and help pollinators - that’s over 45 acres or 24 football pitches or 146 Olympic size swimming pools, it’s bigger than the grounds of Buckingham Palace and has the potential to be home to millions of insects.
For further information visit our Parks and Countryside web page.
You can also visit our Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.