Agenda item

(Report to follow).

This report will follow in a Supplementary Papers pack once the report has been published for consideration of the Cabinet.

The Environmental Services Manager presented a report on Grass Verge Maintenance for Members’ consideration.

The report highlighted the Motion proposed at Full Council on 20^th July 2022 to change the approach to management of verges, the Motion was detailed as follows: -

“This Council changes its grass verge grass cutting and mowing regime to allow wildflowers to remain in bloom during the height of the season when bees, butterflies and general small wildlife rely on the pollen from wildflowers to flourish. This will not be a one size fits all approach. Council will work with local residents and Councillors to find an approach that worked for each community.”

It was proposed that to meet the requirements of this Full Council motion, a cyclical mowing regime would be maintained on approximately 70 per cent of highway verges and open spaces with up to 30 per cent of grass areas potentially left to grow naturally during May, June and July to support wildlife that relied on pollen from wildflowers.

It was stated that capital investment would be required in terms of purchasing new flail mowers to support the cutting of longer vegetation at the end of the flowering season. However, following discussions between the Portfolio Holder and the Environmental Services Manager, an addendum to the report was agreed. The addendum detailed the potential to reduce the Capital funding requirement in the 2023/24 financial year. This was by deferring a final decision on the purchase of a second flail mower until the end of the 2024/25 grass cutting season. This meant that the additional capital investment that was requested for 2023/24 financial year would reduce from £62,100 to £32,100. A decision on whether a second flail deck mower was needed would then be made in the 2024/25 financial year.

It was highlighted that the capital investment detailed would support a reduction in the existing mowing fleet at an estimated saving of £34,000 on the Capital replacement budget over the next three years.

Revenue investment would also be required to support the delivery of the grass cutting programme with total additional revenue expenditure of £28,000 over the current and next three financial years. This would involve a short-term administrative role to support the Place Team in identifying appropriate locations across the District and consulting with local residents, Parish Councils, and the County Council in order to ensure that identified locations for naturalised verges were supported and would not impact on visibility on the public highway.

This administrative support was proposed for a four-month period in the first two cutting years. Additionally, the support of an Ecologist to assess the environmental impact of naturalised verges was required in 2024-25 and 2026-27 of the revenue investment. The Ecologist would document what plant species and wildlife being supported by the initiative and provide independent evidence as to whether grass verge naturalisation measures were having positive impact on wildlife. This would also support communications with residents on the issue.

The Cabinet Member for Leisure, Culture and Climate Change was invited to address the Board as the proposer of the original Council motion. He expressed his support for the report as presented and commented that among the main objectives of his portfolio would be to develop a Biodiversity Action Plan for the Council as no such document was currently in place.

Following the presentation of the report, questions were asked by Members to which the following responses were provided:

·       It was explained that wildflower verges differed from naturalised verges in that naturalised verges were left for natural growth without interference so there would be no seeding done on such grass and any grass cut would not be collected on such verges. This would lead to excessive amount of soil for wildflower growing. It was highlighted that the effect of naturalised verges on biodiversity would be monitored via the assessments by an ecologist.

·       Members expressed concern that the naturalised verges could be perceived by the public as exclusively a cost-cutting measure unless the environmental benefits of the proposal were promoted among residents. It was commented that in wards where Place Team Officers had engaged with residents the attitudes towards the grass verges had generally been more positive. In some wards, however, Members commented that there had been a lack communication and in these wards there were a high number of complaints received by ward councillors about lack of regular grass cutting.

·       Officers explained that naturalised verge trials had taken place in some parts of the District and these received a mixed reaction depending on the area. It was explained that, subject to the approval of this report by Cabinet, a full communications plan would be developed that would include information being put out to residents in the local Council Tax information bulletins.

·       Officers undertook to circulate the pictures of signage that was in place on the edges of verge sites. It was stated that further signage would be put in place explaining why naturalised verges were left uncut and would be positioned around clearly defined edges in order to reassure the public.

·       With regards to measuring the success of naturalised grass areas, it was stated that the ecologist would help the Council identify a baseline level in terms of biodiversity in Council and subsequent studies by the ecologist would allow the Council to gauge whether the naturalised grass areas were having a positive impact on overall biodiversity (including the pollination of plants and variety of habitats) within the District.

·       The online schedule for grass cutting. Officers stated that due to factors such as weather conditions and requirement for continual maintenance of grass cutting equipment, it was not possible to provide precise dates for when grass cutting would take place at a given location. With the implementation of the new IT system for Environmental Services, however, the Council would be developing a GPS tracking on vehicles that would populate real time information about where grass cutting was taking place on a given day. The earliest predicted date for implementation of this was currently mid-2024.

·       It was stated that the administrative support role to facilitate communications with residents would commence from January 2024 and Member engagement was planned to take place from around this period to identify areas suitable for naturalisation. There would also be public consultation with residents on naturalisation plans in 2024.

·       It was requested that engagement with Members be undertaken prior to launch of a public consultation to enable Members to have time to engage with residents in their wards.

The Cabinet Member for Environmental Services and Community Safety addressed the Board and in doing so stated that these proposals follow a motion that was agreed at a full Council meeting which showcased general support from Members. The Cabinet Member stated that the report had been modified recently to ensure that capital investment costs could be reduced and to enable a better mechanism for measuring the benefits of naturalising grass verges by employing the ecologist. The Portfolio Holder added that Members would make decisions over which areas were left for naturalisation in their wards. It was hoped that through more data and consultations with Members and residents the right areas for naturalisation would be identified.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.