GRASS verges around Oxford may remain untrimmed for longer in the future in an attempt to boost wildlife living along roadsides.

Throughout lockdown, verges around the UK were left uncut for longer, because restrictions prevented council workers from trimming them.

According to Oxford City Council’s cabinet member for leisure Linda Smith, cutting of verges in the city was ‘significantly reduced at the outset of lockdown and has gradually returned to normal service levels’.

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However this could be now reduced permanently in future to encourage wildlife.

The council has responsibility for trimming verges in parks and other green spaces, but Oxfordshire County Council oversees cutting roadside verges.

At Oxford City Council’s meeting on Monday (October 5), Liberal Democrat councillor Stephen Goddard described the ‘flourishing’ of grass verges during lockdown as a ‘consolation’ and asked Ms Smith what was being done to make sure they would continue to be an important habitat for wild flowers, insects, and other wildlife.

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Ms Smith said she had been working with council staff, and workers at council contracting company Oxford Direct Services to review how often verges were cut in the future.

But the council’s discussions of verges did not stop there: Independent councillor David Henwood tabled a short debate on purposefully creating ‘wildlife corridors’ in the city.

He asked the council to urge other organisations to leave their grassy areas uncut including Oxford’s two universities and the county council.

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Other councillors agreed with his proposals, and the leader of the council, Susan Brown, will now write to the county council asking it to review how often roadsides are cut back and to plant more wildflowers along grassy verges.

Last year, charity Plantlife launched a set of guidelines for how to transform roadsides into long stretches on native wildflower meadow, an important habitat which has been mostly lost in the UK since the 1930s.

Plantlife’s guidelines have received backing from some local authorities, as well as from highways maintenance firm Skanska, which is contracted to repair roads for Oxfordshire County Council.

This article has been amended to correct the name of Lib Dem councillor Stephen Goddard 08/10/20