LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Environmental ignorance

He seems to find Linden trees particularly attractive and I wonder why he sees beauty only in Lime trees. There are other species on Herringthorpe Valley Road!

However, joking aside, I do share his thoughts on the council and its contractor’s environmental management. I have for two or three years been in correspondence with council officers who are responsible for the annual maintenance programme.

My main concern is with the excessive use (mis-use) of chemical weed control and the serious environmental damage it is causing. The use of herbicides as a money saving venture is unnecessarily destroying large area of vegetation to the detriment of insect, mammals, amphibians and birds.

I have been told by one officer (in his inability to accept the facts) to take it up with the contractor! Another officer has agreed to stop using herbicides on an area near to me while allowing treatment on other large areas she is responsible for and admits it is only to appease me! While this state of ignorance is rife little can be done.

Modern methods of environmental management eliminate regular, short grass cutting and limit herbicide use to a minimum where any other method is impractical. There are several ways that the effect of bad management can be reduced. 1) Later grass cutting (pollinating insects need a supply of food early in the year). No cut May is the term here. 2) Leaving large swathes of grass uncut and only cut where safety to pedestrians and traffic may be compromised. 3) Total elimination of herbicide use except on hard landscape areas and where strimming is effective. 4) Planting areas around street furniture, trees etc with wild flowers instead of areas of bare earth.

A little forethought and organisational skills would bring this easily into play. The financial saving on mowing, herbicides and their application would be considerable. The public who prefer cropped greenery would need to be educated, of course. Overall the benefits would be incalculable.

We are losing ten per cent of our insects every ten years, 40pc are in decline and their extinction rate is eight times greater than mammals.

With more input from the general public the local council and their contractors can do something positive about it.

David E Sotheran