COMMENT: Planting more flowers is simple but effective

This has also been a significant contributory factor to the appalling air quality that dogs many parts of Portsea Island.

With so many of us remaining wedded to our cars, the authorities face an uphill battle to remove much of the populace from their motor vehicles.

In the meantime though, the council could have come up with a novel way to help improve the air quality, and improve the city’s biodiversity.

Green space on the island is at a premium.

Yes, we have a few parks dotted around – and very pleasant some of them are too – but they are definitely oases among the row-upon-row of terraced housing and the blocks of flats that seem to spring up on any spare patch of ground.

Anything that can be done to boost the growth of wildflowers and the attendant wildlife that should bring would be a boon.

Bee and other insect populations have been in decline in recent years, which many experts are warning will have a devastating impact on our ecosystem.

Whether this scheme also has the added bonus of encouraging people to walk and cycle more, as the council says it hopes will happen, remains to be seen.

Should the proposed ‘pollinator friendly corridor’ along the top half of Copnor Road be approved at tomorrow’s cabinet meeting, it could be the first area of many to experience the hoped for benefits. 

These areas should be relatively low maintenance, and once they have bedded in, should prove easier on the eye than a patch of scrubland.

It may be a minor thing in the overall effort to combat climate change, but to borrow an old, and in this case, apt saying: ‘From little acorns...’