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News  »  Our village?s grass verges



   Our village?s grass verges    3 November, 2014

The Parish Council’s newly formed  working party, tasked with looking at the village’s green verges, has assessed suitable rural areas of the village to leave for natural controlled growth. The High Street extension grass verges, leading down to the river, have been chosen (this excludes the bank running down the side of the wall of Ditton Hall). The aim along these two banks will be to encourage native wild flower growth as well as insect life, particularly our falling bee population. To this end, these verges will only be cut biannually and the cuttings will be collected by volunteers. Initially there will be minimal new planting, since it is important to see what will grow here naturally, in order to enhance it in the future with plants which complement, rather than compete with, what is discovered. The importance of removing the cuttings is to reduce the fertility of the soil. If this is not done, only certain types of dominant plants, such as nettles, will thrive.

This is a long term plan, the results of which will only start to emerge over the course of years, as the area adapts to its new management. So, it will be important to be patient! A foot wide strip alongside the footpath will continue to be cut, in order to ensure that the path is not obstructed by overhang of long grass etc. Be assured that the Parish Council will make sure that road visibility will not be impaired. 

Sadly, many of the grass verges in the village are in a poor state, particularly along Church Street, Horningsea Road, some in High Ditch Road and at Green End. You can help to protect the village verges by refraining from parking or turning your car on them or driving on them in order to pass another vehicle. Our green verges add to the rural aspect of the village and it is important that they should be appropriately maintained. We would like to take the opportunity to thank those who have, for many years, cared for and maintained the grass verges. We appreciate your efforts and thank you for continuing to do so. 

The Parish Council is arranging for the three dead Rowan trees on the banked verge along Ditton Lane to be replaced with new trees, and elder that has grown up will be removed. These trees were originally planted to commemorate the Queen’s coronation in 1953 and are part of our village’s history. We would like to give the new trees every possible opportunity to thrive and to this end, members of the group will be forming a rota to ensure that they are watered, in the event that there is not enough rainfall. If you would like to help, please get in touch.

If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Susannah Ticciati, Jenny Parr or Laurie Woolfenden via the Parish Clerk, clerk@fenditton-pc.org.uk. We would also be very interested to listen to any suggestions that you have to protect and improve our village’s green verges.

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