Urban meadow creation
In response to the Climate Emergency, and to help make our green spaces more wildlife friendly, we’ll be relaxing the current grass cutting schedules across a number of our sites between May and September. This will create urban meadows, which will provide a longer season of nectar for pollinators.
We’ve been increasing the amount of urban meadow we create each year since we began in 2021. This year, we’ll be letting a total of 44 hectares in Andover, Romsey and Valley Park grow wilder – that’s more than 82 football fields of grass that will be left unmown until September, when it will be cut and collected. The details of the sites can be found in the documents section on the right of this page.
This approach will reduce the number of visits for mowing and allow grasses and plants to develop, providing valuable habitat for insects and birds. We will monitor the sites over the summer and make a record of any notable plant species.
If you would like to help with monitoring local wildlife get in touch through our Citizen Science programme on CitizenScience@testvalley.gov.uk
Urban meadows for the future
The longer-term plan will see a much larger area of urban meadow created across the borough. Working with Hampshire County Council, we hope to include suitable roadside verges that enable a connected network of wildlife-rich green spaces to be established, while not restricting visibility for vehicles.
Find out more about this on Hampshire County Council’s Parish Pollinator Pledge web pages.
Read our full Climate Emergency Action plan.
Why doesn’t the Council just stopping cutting all green spaces?
We are contracted by Hampshire County Council to cut certain road verges, and we need to keep cutting these for safety reasons. If you have a question about a specific location, please contact us on nomowinfo@testvalley.gov.uk