Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Norgy]

The concept of there being a green belt in England amuses a Scandinavian almost as much as an episode of Blackadder. 

[Sheilbh]

Loved this article (Genuinely think there's a fair bit to chew over in it - but it's just great):
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/10/the-meadow-mutiny-why-a-rewilding-scheme-sparked-a-residents-revolt

The meadow mutiny: why a rewilding scheme sparked a residents' revolt
A council in Derbyshire decided to let grass grow wild - and a group of vigilante mowers fought back. What can be done to make sure essential environmental schemes get the local support they need?
Kate McCusker
Tue 10 Sep 2024 10.00 BST


'It really brought the community together' ... the rebels of Rayneham Road, (from left) Gary, Moira, Marnay and Linda. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

The vigilante mowers of Rayneham Road in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, don't look like dissidents. Ranging in age from 49 to 68, most have adult children and comfortably sized houses in a quiet corner of the East Midlands. They are not people you might usually associate with a picket line. But when the council stopped mowing the communal green space opposite their redbrick houses as part of a borough-wide rewilding scheme, it wasn't long before mutiny took hold.

The grass reached hip height. Fears about dog poo, litter and ticks spread. Residents felt there was nowhere for visiting grandchildren to run amok or play football. "It was up to my daughter's nose at one point," says 54-year-old teacher Marnay Dudley. "I found it so depressing," says her retired neighbour Moira Barclay.

The revolt began with 60-year-old customer service worker Martin White. "Looking out my window, I just couldn't bear to see it," he says. "So I took the lawnmower out." Soon, his retired neighbour Gary Wheatley, 63, joined him. Then Dudley's husband, John. And then the whole street was getting their hands dirty – raking up the shorn grass and gleefully clumping it into wheelbarrows. At one point in the multiday rebellion, there were five lawnmowers on the go. "It really brought the community together," says 68-year-old retired science technician Linda Lee. People got to know neighbours they previously hadn't uttered more than a few words to. A jug of squash was shared around. Lee's husband, Mark, even shelled out hundreds of pounds for a secondhand ride-on mower that he spent hours fixing up in the garage.

"We felt like rebels," says Barclay, 68, who filmed the revolt and put it on Facebook. With the sun coming weakly through the clouds and the grass flying up from the mower blades at a furious clip, the scene appears less one of an anti-council insurgency than an ambient episode of Countryfile. "We don't get much trouble around here," says Lee. "But at the end of the day, you'd just have to get some teenagers coming along, dropping a match down, and it would have gone up." She pauses. "We also found out that it's devaluing our properties. We don't want that in this area."

Like one in five county councils across Great Britain, Derbyshire county council have embraced rewilding on public land. With nearly one in six species in the UK at risk of extinction, more than half of our flowering plants having decreased in number, a flying insect population reduced by up to 78% over the past 20 years, and 97% of species-rich grassland now lost, it's a grimly necessary project.

The scheme, called Wild About Erewash, was signed off by the council in March, and has seen most of the borough's green spaces adopt a more natural – or bedraggled, depending on who you ask – aesthetic. Formal planting has stopped, hanging baskets have been removed, weed-killer use has been reduced and long grass is now the norm in parks and on road verges. Mowing is mostly confined to recreational areas and margins, which will create paths for walkers.


The scheme has been called 'disgusting' and diabolical. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

But with council tax bills climbing by 3% this year and service provision ostensibly nosediving, Erewash residents aren't convinced of its virtues. "From a council perspective, I think it's very disingenuous that they suggested a rewilding project is for the purposes of nature and the environment," says IT manager Paul Miller, 49, who helped his neighbours bale up the grass on Rayneham Road. "I think it's very clear that it was about saving money. For me, if they'd come out and said as a council: 'We're skint. We're not going to cut the grass,' it would have been a different thing."

The residents of Rayneham Road are far from alone in their concerns about Erewash council's rewilding scheme; even if they were the first to start a de facto meadow war. A change.org petition started by a local Conservative councillor, Wayne Major, has more than 1,600 signatures. Another local Tory councillor in the nearby village of Sawley, Paul Maginnis, went on GB News to lament the whole "woke nonsense", saying that the youth club he runs no longer has space for children to play football amid the long grass.

Growing pains aren't unusual for a scheme like Wild About Erewash. In Brighton, one resident ended up in A&E after stumbling over weeds growing on the pavement. Devon locals have complained that overgrown grass in a cemetery is disrespectful to the grieving. But the Erewash scheme is unusual in the volume of hapless headlines it's managed to generate in its short existence. Woke rewilding, summers snatched from children, rats, dog poo, ticks – the coverage couldn't conceivably have been worse. Most of the bad press stemmed from a fraught full council meeting at Ilkeston town hall on 1 August, where the Labour administration fielded written questions from residents about everything from the possibly "devastating" implications of tick bites to discarded nitrous oxide canisters – a potential "gateway to substance abuse", as one parent put it.

In the course of an afternoon spent in Ilkeston's residential areas, I hear the scheme called "disgusting", "diabolical", "a mess" and "ridiculous". "It makes you feel like you don't want to live around here any more," says Mair Whalley, 77, who's out walking her dog, Ted, on the edge of Shipley Country Park. "It was supposed to be like a meadow. It doesn't look much like a meadow to me. Maybe we should stop paying our council tax."


The Barling Drive play area has been left overgrown. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

Last year, Derby council announced what's set to be the biggest urban rewilding site in England at Allestree Park – the largest open space in the city. But many residents in neighbouring Erewash say they only heard about their own borough's rewilding scheme by looking out their windows and noticing that grass on verges, roundabouts and in parks hadn't been cut. Many people are wondering where the flowers are and what the rewilding scheme actually entails.

"It is a nice idea really badly implemented and even more poorly communicated," says James Archer, a parish councillor who stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Erewash at the last general election. "No Mow May has now become Can't be Arsed August," resident John McBride writes to me via email. "The standard of public areas has massively decreased."


'What happens when no one ends up pleased?' Steve Jones and his dog Aggie. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

By the time I visit Ilkeston, news of the Rayneham Road uprising seems to have become local legend; several people bring it up with a glint of delight in their eye. "The scheme is like everything," says Steve Jones, 56, who is out walking his dog, Aggie, on the picturesque Nutbrook Trail. "You have to try to please everyone." But what happens when no one ends up pleased? Does the Erewash problem stem from residents resisting crucial change in the face of the biodiversity crisis, or has this well-intentioned initiative unwittingly become the Willy Wonka experience of local authority rewilding schemes?

"It's a necessary project," says Thomas Hollier, 24, an environment coach managing nature reserves for local charity Groundwork Five Counties. "It's always going to look its worst in the first year. It needs time. This is a fairly wealthy area, and that tends to come with people wanting everything to look perfect."

Hollier points out that leaving cut grass on the surface means that it "essentially just mulches over, and you're not going to get any wild flowers through because that mulch would just build up to a thatch, which would be a physical barrier to any wild flowers". But the "cut and collect" approach – which conservation charity Plantlife recommends as a way of reducing fertility and regrowth, and increasing biodiversity and carbon within the soil – will be implemented one or two years into the plan. That's once the requisite equipment had been bought by the council, and the grass had been given a fallow period, insists Mark Alfrey, Erewash council's lead member for environment.

"Without allowing that grass to grow – which initially does look unkempt – we don't have an understanding of what the seed bank is there," says the Labour councillor. Having taken on the role in May, Alfrey says he "does not know how the policy was drawn up", but bats away the suggestion that he wishes it hadn't been. That said, he's under no illusions as to the shoddy communication of the project in its infancy.

"When we took over, we faced a significant financial black hole, and lots of tough decisions were made to balance the budgets," he says, "but the rewilding strategy that I developed is not about short-term cost savings. It's about a long-term initiative that leads to environmental dividends year on year. The message could have been delivered differently ... but this is now happening across the country," he says in response to residents' concerns. He adds that any savings made on green space management in the borough came from the decision to get rid of formal planting and sow the beds with wild-flower seeds instead.

But with the Conservative-controlled Derbyshire council as cash-strapped as many others across the country, and running a budget gap of more than £39m for the year 2024/25, any cost saving surely helps. "Green space management in Erewash is under a lot of fiscal stress," says Alfrey. "The budget for verges, tree maintenance and street cleaning hasn't increased for a decade."


Victoria Park in Ilkeston, where the council have set up a wild meadow area. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

Alfrey says he is planning to make adjustments – namely, widening paths for walkers and implementing informal play spaces – having consulted external experts in the field. As for the poo problem ... well, he says, it's not his. "I'm not going to be offended when people say that long grass supports dog poo and litter. I would disagree. Long grass doesn't support littering. Littering is antisocial behaviour, and dog poo is irresponsible dog owners not wanting to clear up."

The problem, says Stephen Carver, professor of rewilding and wilderness science at the University of Leeds, may be calling these initiatives "rewilding" in the first place. That implies ceding control to nature. What's going on here is more "habitat restoration", a more managed process where humans still call the shots.

Other councils have been more cautious in their employment of the term: Birmingham council, which has worked towards improving water quality to support otters in the city's canal network, has opted not to use it in case it's misinterpreted as the total restoration of ecosystems, and the reintroduction of wolves, lynx, bison and beavers.

Things "can often go wrong if suddenly mowing simply stops, and then people see tall growth and that triggers a whole set of concerns," says Mark Schofield, road verges adviser at Plantlife. "It's really important to think about how you might transition from the frequently mown short turf scenario and move towards a manageable wildflower-rich meadow environment."

Schofield says best practice is to divide the area in question into zones. "You can almost imagine yourself as a DJ with a mixing deck and a cross-fading switch where you can adjust the relative proportions of your functional turf, your flowering lawn, your wild-flower meadow, your rough grass and then even your hedgerow and scrubby woodland," he says.

The "mow less" message seems to be slowly getting through, at any rate: 40 councils pledged to leave their verges and parks to grow as part of this year's No Mow May. Given that the cumulative area of road verges in Britain is the same size as Dorset, that feels like no small feat.

Responding to residents' criticism, Alfrey says he has never been more convinced of the project's importance. "There's been a lot of noise because it's a bold departure for the council, and I've openly admitted that it's been a learning curve," he says. "But I'm very confident that this is a deliverable plan. I'm just disappointed that, in the first year it was rolled out, there have been these teething issues." He says the council had big plans for the denuded green space on Rayneham Road. "It had one of the most diverse seed banks in Erewash. I can't tell you what would've happened there, because residents cut the grass."

With research suggesting that humans will push further into wildlife habitats across more than half the land on Earth by 2070, it is likely going to get much uglier than uncut verges. "Memories are being lost of how enriched our every day was in terms of our biodiversity," says Schofield.

But overlooking the Barling Drive play area in Ilkeston, its climbing frame hemmed in by long grass, Wheatley isn't convinced. He says that he and his neighbours will keep on mowing in the absence of council intervention. "It shouldn't be our job to do it. The alternative is to let it go back to wild," he says. Lee stops him in his tracks: "My husband won't ever let it go back to that. He'll come home this weekend and he'll be out there again on the ride-on mower. I know he will."

I wonder if any national publications might have some responsibility for the public linking re-wilding and introducing lynx, bison or wolves...:hmmm:


(Also the correct response to Britain's genuinely out of control deer population is for us all to do our duty and eat more venison )

[Josquius]

Heh. I just read that one earlier and was thinking too post it too. Such a "this is why we can't have nice things"
There's just such a small minded attitude with many that ultra short monoculture grass is the only desirable thing.
But of course a huge part of it seems to be just fear of teh woke. Painful.

Needless to say I will keep fighting to rewild the field outside my house. They left a large section right outside my garden unmowed for a few months this year and it looked great. Alas dumb neighbours just complained they'd missed a spot.

[HVC]

Deer are a menace here too. So many car accidents.

[Sheilbh]

Heh. I just read that one earlier and was thinking too post it too. Such a "this is why we can't have nice things"
There's just such a small minded attitude with many that ultra short monoculture grass is the only desirable thing.
But of course a huge part of it seems to be just fear of teh woke. Painful.

Needless to say I will keep fighting to rewild the field outside my house. They left a large section right outside my garden unmowed for a few months this year and it looked great. Alas dumb neighbours just complained they'd missed a spot.

I was thinking how both sides are basically right and kind of justified.

[Tamas]

IDK, "rewilding" seems like a perfect excuse to cut cost and be lazy. It is fugly. And what's the end goal?

[Josquius]

Around playgrounds and the like fair enough.
But when it's just random fields it's just pure cold hearted spite.

[Sheilbh]

IDK, "rewilding" seems like a perfect excuse to cut cost and be lazy. It is fugly. And what's the end goal?

I agree - I feel like there's a huge difference between the photos of the area that got mowed (which looks derelict) and the wildflower meadow area.

But I think that's why I love the story. If you're a Tory councillor running a local campaign because the youth club you run no longer has open (short-grassed) space to play football and want to get a bit of national attention on GB News (and maybe the Mail, Telegraph etc) no better way than to frame it as "work re-wilding". If you're a Labour council looking to deflect attention from budget cuts to essential services like maintaining public spaces from places like the Guardian, what better way to do it than say it's a re-wilding and net biodiversity strategy.

Meanwhile people in the area just think it looks a bit derelict so get together and communally mow it (again imagine the Guardian framing of locals deciding to keep a book lending service going in the face of library cuts).

I love it

[Barrister]

So out in Alberta, we live in what was, ecologically speaking, long grass prairie.  I'm certainly familiar with "re-wilding".

The thing is though - you can't just stop mowing and expect that a natural ecosystem is going to pop up.  Instead, all you're going to get is weeds and shrubs.

So I'm going to talk more about Canadian prairie than english meadows, because that's what I know.  But I suspect a lot of the principles are the same.

The Canadian prairie though is prairie because of two features: being trampled by bison, and wildfires.  Without large herbivores, and without fires, you just get a lot of scrub trees over time, which isn't the natural environment either.

So prairie landscapes can be managed and maintained by humans - but you need grazing and fire.  So you can do it with, say, tame sheep and controlled burns from time to time, but that all requires time and money.

[Josquius]

So out in Alberta, we live in what was, ecologically speaking, long grass prairie.  I'm certainly familiar with "re-wilding".

The thing is though - you can't just stop mowing and expect that a natural ecosystem is going to pop up.  Instead, all you're going to get is weeds and shrubs.
 

I believe in north America most of the grass you have in your towns is non native?
In the UK this is native stuff.

As to weeds.... Weeds are basically just wild flowers in a place you don't want them.

But yes. Just leaving things entirely alone isn't ideal. In nature you'd have grazing animals passing through. You need to mimic this in some way (or, the best way I've seen it done, the Swiss railways on their embankment employs a team of sheep. A bit more acceptable without the fire)

IDK, "rewilding" seems like a perfect excuse to cut cost and be lazy. It is fugly. And what's the end goal?

I agree - I feel like there's a huge difference between the photos of the area that got mowed (which looks derelict) and the wildflower meadow area.

But I think that's why I love the story. If you're a Tory councillor running a local campaign because the youth club you run no longer has open (short-grassed) space to play football and want to get a bit of national attention on GB News (and maybe the Mail, Telegraph etc) no better way than to frame it as "work re-wilding". If you're a Labour council looking to deflect attention from budget cuts to essential services like maintaining public spaces from places like the Guardian, what better way to do it than say it's a re-wilding and net biodiversity strategy.

As the guy in the article says it takes time to settle.
The first year it will usually basically just be uneven shaggy grass.
They're the sprinters of the meadow ecosystem.
With time however it does settle into more of a equilibrium with the wild flowers breaking through.
Most of them play a longer game.


It's a win win really on saving money and restoring the ecosystem. Exactly the sort of thing councils should be doing.
But the woke obsessives can't be having this new fangled idea of the entire town not being a bowling green.

Meanwhile people in the area just think it looks a bit derelict so get together and communally mow it (again imagine the Guardian framing of locals deciding to keep a book lending service going in the face of library cuts).

I love it

 [/quote]
These people are more akin to a community book burning service.

[Sheilbh]

Interesting from Diane Abbott on the winter fuel payment cut that basically Rachel Reeves has bought the "Treasury line" and that every Chancellor gets told they need to cut winter fuel payments (or means test them) because the Treasury hates them.

This was then backed up by an unusual ally of Diane Abbott: George Osborne. Who basically said that it was among the first option presented to him by the Treasury when he became Chancellor and it is absolutely Treasury orthodoxy that you need to cut and/or means test the winter fuel payments.

This is my worry with Labour and the "we love institutions" vibe (eg Sue Gray). Rachel Reeves is very experienced and has been in the BofE and Treasury before. That might mean she has great expertise and can really deal with the vested interests and biases there to push her agenda. Or it might mean she's already institutionalised and fully on board with the Treasury view already - which, if you think that pennywise pound foolish approach is a big problem, seems a bit of a concern.

[Tamas]

I don't see why means testing the fuel payments is such a heresy. Where the cutoff line needs to be can be open for debate, I am sure, but come on.

[Sheilbh]

I think the reason every Chancellor in the last 30 years has vetoed that Treasury suggestion is political judgement.

But for me it's more whether it's indicative of a wider issue (and I think there's similar concerns with Starmer and the people around him). Ultimately the Treasury have a very particular view of the world which is still very Gladstonian. Part of the job of being a good minister is being able to resist your department's own vested interests and biases.

It might not mean anything but the fact Reeves has gone for something they've been pushing for years and had Chancellors block make me slightly worry that she'll be less able to spot what's the advice that's good and she should listen to, and what's institutional preferences where it's her job to override.

It's a line Blair's always flagged. I haven't read it and I won't because he creepily capitalises "the Leader" throughout, but in his new book on leadership he makes this point: "All bureaucracies are the same. They're not conspiracies for one side or another in politics; they're conspiracies for maintaining the system and they have a corresponding genius for inertia. They can be utilised and driven but should not be left with the first or final say".

I slightly worry that with their various institutional backgrounds Reeves, Starmer and Gray may be a little vulnerable on this in different ways. It's also where I sympathise a bit with the "blob" stuff - I don't think there's political bias but I think there is Treasury view/a civil service perspective and it bends to inertia

On Blair though very good to see his institute doing a big, very pro-building paper on the need to build more houses.

[Josquius]

Could it not be the treasury is right?
I mean, it seems politically logical the tories would be keen to avoid upsetting their prime voter base.


But yes. Though this move seems common sense and logical with richer pensions it's weird they've put such a low absolute cliff on it rather than gradually losing it.
Also I wonder with the timing and doing it so suddenly - to highlight how fucked we are I suppose it helps, but to do it so close to winter when people will have to reconsider their planning... Ideally would have been best to leave it till next winter.

[garbon]

I don't see why means testing the fuel payments is such a heresy. Where the cutoff line needs to be can be open for debate, I am sure, but come on.