Crawley wildflower verges mowed 'by mistake', council admits

Verges in Elizabethan Way, Maidenbower will take "some time" to recover

A county council has apologised after wildflower verges were mowed "by mistake".

The verges in Elizabethan Way, Maidenbower, are part of a West Sussex County Council scheme used to attract bees and other pollinators.

The council has apologised and said its contactor has put in measures to ensure the mistake does not happen again.

A member of Maidenbower Bee Wild Project Group posted on social media that they were "devastated".

They said: "These verges have signage on the lampposts next to them and have the greatest registered biodiversity of our verges in the scheme."

The verge in Elizabethan Way in July 2021

There are currently 24 Community Road Verge locations in the county, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Rather than being cut five times per year, they are cut once in the autumn, with the cuttings raked and disposed of by the community.

The aim is to lower the fertility of the soil, enabling wildflowers to out-compete the grass.

A West Sussex County Council spokesman said: "Our contractor has been in contact with the project group to apologise for this error and we would also like to offer our apologies to all those concerned.

"We understand the contractor has put measures in place to avoid a repeat of this type of mistake in the future."

Michael Jones, leader of Crawley Borough Council, said the authority had "reached out already to the Maidenbower Bee Wild project to help with reinstating it".

"Sadly it will take some time to reverse the damage done so I hope the county council takes better care in future," he said.

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