Five more wildflower verges have been created across Brighton.
The sites have been chosen with the help of residents and created by Brighton and Hove City Council, which has now made 29 wilder verges across the city.
The new verges are in the following locations:
- Bristol Estate, Kemp Town
- Queensway, Craven Vale
- Finsbury Road, Hanover
- Marine Drive, Roedean
- Greenfield Crescent, Hollingbury
Councillor Tim Rowkins, Cabinet member for Net Zero and Environmental Services, said: “This will bring native Sussex species into our neighbourhoods, including a few surprises – we’ve already had orchids springing up in some areas.
“This summer, our wildflower verges and banks have been teeming with bees, butterflies and beetles, but if they’re not managed correctly, they can become dominated by grass and other plants such as nettles.
“We’re taking a strategic approach to these areas so they can be managed in the best way for wildflowers, and ensure new ones are put into places that have the biggest impact for nature as part of a wildflower network.”
The council’s City Parks teams have been working with community volunteers from the Brighton & Hove Wildlife Forum and local residents’ groups to manage some of the verges.
As a result, different mowing regimes have been introduced in these areas to maximise the opportunities for wildflowers.
As the project develops, the council is exploring further improved management of existing and new sites through the removal of grass cuttings and other plant material.
These materials nourish the soil as they decompose, which favours dominant species like nettle and bramble, leading in turn to lower biodiversity. Reducing the nutrients in the soil creates ideal conditions for a wider range of wildflowers to flourish as they can get established and spread more easily without competition from faster-growing plants like grasses.
Surveys carried out following a pilot four years ago showed an increase in pollinator or downland species on almost half of the sites, with 70% of the verges recording a pollinator or downland species not seen in the pre-project survey.
Volunteers from Brighton and Hove Wildlife Forum are carrying out surveys on potential new sites. These will be assessed in the autumn with a view to adding another five sites next summer.
From 2026 the council will be looking for more potential sites for nature, including a public call for suggestions and an online map showcasing the range of wildlife and nature areas across the city.
There’s a couple on the pavements and roads around here but don’t think they are designated!
They also have a habit of “accidentally” mowing the existing ones when they shouldn’t. Not sure what instructions the council give the contractors they use, but they don’t seem to know where they are supposed to mow and where not, where to spread glyphosate and where not, and as we saw at Hove Beach Park, don’t seem to know that newly planted trees will die if you don’t water them in warmer weather.
Great that residents are leading on it though, and credit to them. Let’s hope the council just keep their contractors away so the inevitable balls up of them ruining the community’s hard work is avoided!
Guess that’s where some of the residents’ groups are important to step in. I notice that all the areas listed have some very proactive TRAs about. Credit where credit is due.
The same council who recently mowed the verge by the side of the road from Upper Lodges to Stanmer Village down to the ground when it was bursting with wild flowers, butterflies and various pollinators leaving it completely devoid of wildlife.
Perhaps the Net Zero councillor could ask his colleague, cllr Muten, why he’s caused all the pollution on Preston Road with his bonkers road ‘improvements’?
A few years ago we had poppies on the central reservation in Eastern road and moulscombe. They were in full bloom when they were destroyed
Sounds like a good EIB project to me.
I do find the dishonesty here alarming.
Anyone who does any gardening or who has an allotment knows that creating wildflower verges – as nice as they can be – is really about avoiding the cost to the council of mowing the grass.
I disagree. That’s a bonus, but not the motivation. If you read the article properly the benefits to pollinators and hence nature generally are clear.
“Five new Brighton wildflower verges created”
Translation: Council stops mowing on five more verges.
Just another cost cuttter.
My thought exactly… and they just let them grow without any management and ‘weeds’ take over, rubbish is never cleared… I have always maintained that it’s cost cutting…
Good pun Charles, and it can be both!
Saves the council money, whilst also allowing the much more biodiverse and healthier wildflowers to grow. There is some initial maintenance for the first year or two, and they do benefit from having a trim every once in a while – cut edges look neat and tidy comparatively.
Rubbish…there’s more work to do, can’t argue with that, but hey, maybe they’ll have some more time now they aren’t mowing as much, right?!
Tsk, faux outrage! The number of insects have depleted so much that we are in desperate need for pollinators. If we all preening and manicuring our gardens/public spaces too much we run the risk of having no food to grow in the end. Think on. X
Unfortunately that’s more fake-green thinking.
Firstly, there is zero chance of having manicured gardens and public spaces in this city. The parks department was disbanded years ago. No weeding is done, very little seasonal planting, and they don’t even sweep up autumn leaves for composting now.
If you do have a garden then you can encourage pollinators by choosing more carefully the flowers and plants you grow.
If, like me, you actually grow food, the key is to treat the soil well, and then the process is very hands on. Predators are the problem, not the lack of pollinators.
Your common sense and facts are all very well, but what are the virtue signallers going to say now?!
The decline in pollinators is a well-documented ecological concern. Numerous studies have shown significant drops in bee, butterfly, and hoverfly populations over the past few decades. Habitat loss, pesticide use, and climate change are all major factors.
Superb!
More money well spent by the council, its not like we have a massive green area surrounding the city called the countryside!
Hope its more successful than the half arsed effort made at the Waterhall so called nature reserve which is just cow shit and ragwort. i see less wildlife there than when it was a golf course!
What a weird and embarrassing suggestion to say that green spaces shouldn’t exist inside cities.