I am heartily sick and tired of seeing the sporadic, wasteful and unwanted massacre of the wildflowers that is the Council cutting of roadside verges! For years I have asked for there to be less but more intelligent cutting of roadside verges and more litter picking. Everytime I ask I get nodding heads and agreement and NOTHING changes for the better.
You might think that with the Council’s apparent commitment to a greener planet, fighting climate change and financial responsibility they would stop sending oil burning mowers for hundreds of miles along the borough’s roads cutting the wildflowers down in the name of road safety. Tell me of one motorist, cyclist, walker, wagon driver or e-scooter rider who can’t see over a dandelion and I will eat my flower bedecked panama hat! While they moan about cash you’d think they might cut out this waste!
The charity Plantlife plantlife.org/uk has been running a campaign to bring Councils to their sense and realise the important ecological role of roadside verges. They have some startling facts. There are nearly half a million kilometers of rural road verges in the UK! There are rare plants growing there too and many are important as food sources for the many varieties of bees, moth and butterflies. Without these pollinators much of our food would disappear and I don’t just mean honey.
Can you just imagine the rage that would be exhibited by the collective of climate change vocalisers and environmental champions if they saw a private individual deliberately set out to destroy a thousand acres of wildflowers in bloom? It really is time that the Councils stopped mowing in an wasteful, harmful, eco-damaging way when they would be better cutting where visibility is a problem and picking up more of the plastic litter along the rest. It may even be that they can save money and the environment at the same time instead of the meaningless virtue signalling.
Tarporley Ward 