'Let the grass grow' – Walsall Council to reduce cutting to help wildlife

Using social media the council is explaining why some grass is best left to grow while others are trimmed to perfection.

Councillor Kerry Murphy, Portfolio Holder for Clean and Green at Walsall Council, said, “Our grass cutting regime takes into account many things. We have to balance cutting roadside verges for visibility and safety reasons with the community need for having aesthetically pleasing green spaces for recreational activities but also develop areas where we can increase local biodiversity and wildlife habitats.

“The growth of grass is governed by rainfall, soil fertility, sunlight and temperature - higher amounts of all of these means it will grow quicker. Our approach to grass management has a lot of benefits but it’s not straight-forward and there may be times of year when it looks messier.

"For example in June recent, wet conditions and warm temperatures resulted in very fast grass growth due to favourable grass growing conditions and longer daylight hours, with growth slowing down around July."

She added: “We shouldn’t spend more than we have to on cutting amenity grass and there are wide-reaching benefits for the environment if we reduce the frequency of grass cutting in appropriate areas of the borough. By using less fuel, we are reducing our carbon footprint and helping reduce the council’s carbon emissions. We’re also allowing nature to thrive, increasing biodiversity and the number of wildlife habitats that provide food and homes for pollinating insects like bees and butterflies.”

Walsall Council is responsible for maintaining council-owned parks, open green spaces and highway verges and this involves cutting back hedges and shrubs and grass cutting.

Grassed areas in parks and cemeteries are not affected and will be cut as usual.