Gosport council to rewild grass in the borough with naturalised flower zones

The council’s community and environment board will decide next week on naturalising five per cent of grassed areas managed by the council.

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The council launched the scheme in January 2020 and has so far naturalised 61,000sqm of community grassed areas.

A naturalised plant reseeds, spreads and attracts pollinators which supports biodiversity in the local environment.

These plants can thrive like native plants with little maintenance and can replenish the soil as they complete their life cycles.

According to council documents, naturalised flower zones established over the autumn and winter ‘have grown to provide a more biodiverse environment’.

‘Rewilding grass areas and sowing naturalised flower zones will increase biodiversity and provide greater amenity value, boost the health and wellbeing of the residents and provide the community with a landscape that actively offsets the causes and effects of climate change.’

A site assessment report found that most of the zones were successful ‘despite several less than ideal circumstances associated with establishment’.

The new rewilding zones have been proposed for Privett Park, Rectory Copse, Walpole Park, Forton Recreation Ground and along Fareham Road.

The cost of seed and peat-free compost along with the seed mixes was estimated to cost 80 pence per square metre which totals £56,000 for the entire scheme.

However, cutting and collecting the zones at the end of the flowering season will match the current financial cost of maintaining the amenity grass.

The council will decide on the scheme on November 16.