Torpoint Town Council
Cornwall Council 'Re-Wilding' Programme
Cornwall
Council has introduced a new policy which aims to encourage wildflowers and
pollinators to thrive, without compromising road safety. The Council is
responsible for maintaining over 75 hectares of urban verges and green areas in
our towns and villages.
In keeping with the Cornwall Council’s aim to create a greener Cornwall we have
implemented changes to how we manage verges. The Council, as part of their bee
pollinator action plan wants to allow wildflowers to seed and therefore verges
and closed churchyard areas will be left to flourish, with more sympathetic
maintenance taking place before cut back later in the summer.
Last year Cornwall Council carried out a public consultation asking residents
how they wanted the verges to be managed. The results of the survey, which
received more than 2,000 responses, overwhelmingly suggested that residents
wanted to see nature encouraged to flourish. As a result, Wildflowers are being
left to flourish in towns and villages under Cornwall Council’s new urban
verge-cutting policy. Verges will now be cut two or three times a year,
instead of eight, and cuttings will take place after the flowers have finished
blooming and seeds are set.
Our maintenance teams will still be visiting monthly to tidy path edges, cut
around benches and fixtures, ensuring visibility for safety reasons, as well as
removing invasive and more prolific weeds. We are evaluating which areas
may be used regularly for recreation purposes, such as to ensure children can
still play in their neighbourhood. If there are grass areas within the local
estates that are used for informal play and recreation, please do get in touch
and a Manager will visit to make a compromise between rewilding and use by the
community. Cutting at junctions and bends on the highway will also
continue to ensure roads remain safe and visibility is not compromised.
You can find out more about how we maintain verges in urban areas, typically
those within 30mph zones on the Council’s Website Making
Space for Nature - Cornwall Council and Wildlife
Verges - Cornwall Council
Changes have also been made to encourage more wildlife to verges in rural
areas. On our main roads a ‘Safety Cut’ is carried out in the spring to
early summer (May -July) to reduce growth obstructing visibility at junctions
and signs or verges with high pedestrian usage.
In early spring and again in the autumn, we will carry out a Serviceability Cut
on our main roads. This means cutting more of the highway corridor and will
usually include a one metre ‘swathe’ cut to help reduce verge encroachment.
Again, these cuts will be minimised, where appropriate, to reduce the impact on
the natural environment and for safety reasons only. On the minor rural road
network, cuts will be restricted to reactive safety cuts only following
inspections or as part of local rural maintenance activities.
Please be mindful that the speed of growth is always influenced by the weather
conditions and this may result in longer grass between cuts or changes to our
schedule.
To find out when we will be in your local area to cut the grass or carry out
other maintenance activities in our parks and open spaces, please click on the
links below.
Schedules are being published on a weekly basis by Community Network Area. About Community Networks - Cornwall Council schedule Environment - CORMAC (cormacltd.co.uk). The webpages are being developed at the moment but should be accessible next week. If your area is not listed, this means that we do not have works planned in your area for that working-week. Please remember to check the pages regularly for up to date information.