Results from consultation
Response and actions taken on consultation into Rewilding Wrington February 2022
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In total there were 219 surveys completed (96% online; 4% hard copy). Of these 91% were in favour with 5% neutral and only 4% opposed to the proposals. For comparison purposes, when North Somerset Council consulted in 2020 on their rewilding proposals across the entire county, they had 494 responses with 78% being in favour; That’s a response rate, based on population, 50 times greater in Wrington - well done..
We received comments from many people and these are all summarised below. Where the comments relate to specific sites we have reviewed the comments and refer you to the modified site proposals accessible through the interactive map on this website.
General comments:
WILL HIGHWAY VISIBILITY BE IMPACTED?
The most common concern (ten comments) was that rewilding may adversely impact on visibility at highway junctions causing a highway or pedestrian safety hazard. We have met the North Somerset Senior Area Officer (Highways) and inspected all sites. The Highway Officer has reviewed our drawings and confirmed that provided the proposed grass margins are mown at a suitable frequency, then highway safety will not be adversely impacted. This is no change from the existing regime where grass is mown to meet highway visibility requirements.
Through this process we have now been able for the first time to gain a clear understanding of who mows which areas of grass and this information is now with the Parish Council to enable follow up action if needed.
The rewilded seed should in any event grow generally to no higher than 50cm which should be very easy to see over. Should an area of rewilding later emerge as adversely impacting on highway visibility then this can be addressed by increasing the area to be mown. Specific concerns at the Branches Cross site (site 1) are addressed on that site’s proposals.
WILL THE SITES END UP LOOKING LIKE THE COX’S GREEN MESS?
The second most common concern (Six comments) was that the areas may look a mess and the experience at the Cox’s Green road junction was quoted where docks and other invasive species are now seen. Cox’s Green is not representative of what we propose. The area to the south of the junction has been seeded with wildflowers - we can not find details of whether this is annual or perennial seed - but the area is admittedly quite ugly now. The hedge behind the area was not transplanted in accordance with the required process leading to many dead hedge plants, while the grass has been repeatedly run over by heavy vehicles involved in the building works.
To the north, the verges have not been reseeded or maintained leading to invasive dock plants taking hold. Some beautiful poppies did flower last year but these may have been natural seeds in the disturbed ground or perhaps spread by local children. It should be for Redcliffe Homes and North Somerset Council to do what is required under their planning consent but this is not how we would proceed elsewhere. Please see comments in the proposals for Site 11.
LONG TERM MAINTENANCE
Six people also raised concerns as to whether enough thought has gone into long term maintenance. A maintenance plan has been written which includes:
• Mowing:
• Mowing grass margins on a 3-6 week cycle through the growing season
• Cutting back the Rewilding areas and removing off site the biomass in early Autumn and spring
• Rewilding Areas:
• Watering in periods of dry weather during germination
• Monthly inspections of the areas with the Group
• Reseeding as necessary
• Planting further plug plants in areas of low seed take up.
Through the survey, a further 50 volunteers have come forward to join the 8 member team that is taking this project forward. It is hoped that this should be enough people to continue the long term management of the rewilded areas. The Parish Council has accepted the risk that there may be a tail off in the level of physical resource and the ultimate fall back would be to simply revert to the current grass mowing regimes and mow down the flowers.
Conscious of this risk we have reduced slightly the number of sites to be rewilded and will not take on any more sites suggested in this first phase.
DOG MESS AND CHILDREN
Six people also raised concern that on areas where children may stray there is a risk that they may “pick up” dog poo leading to disease. Some respondents do not consider this an issue. We have consulted with both Somerset Wildlife Trust and North Somerset Council and neither see this as a problem on rewilded/sown highway verges, nor have had any such problems reported to them. Dogs should be on leads, certainly on road verges, and owners should be aware of them pooing and pick it up. There is clear split of opinion between those who think dogs will, and will not, poo in long grass/flowers. Nevertheless to assuage opinion and test out whether this is a problem it has been decided to defer rewilding of the main area of concern (Site 3 South Meadows - west verge) for one year while we review the frequency of dog poo seen in the other rewilded areas. It should also be remembered that there is a legal obligation to pick up after your dog. More details on site 2 and 3 proposals.
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WHAT ABOUT A “NO MOW” SOLUTION?
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Four people asked whether we could include some “no mow” areas in our plans.
“No mow” is perhaps a more natural solution to rewilding where nothing new is sown and the grass is not cut until the end of the growing season. It allows plants that have been dormant or continually mown down to grow and flower. Our proposals did not include “no mow” because, generally in built up areas, solutions which introduce more local flowering plants are more attractive and thus more acceptable to the community. Somerset Wildlife Trust like our solution for Wrington but do recommend that where practical, a range of different solutions is used to test which works best in the locality. We have therefore decided to test out a “no mow” solution on one site (Site 2 Orchard Close - south verge) for 2022. By doing this we will have more different rewilding solutions to appraise during the first season which may help us decide on solutions for other areas in future. We may also trial on this site a low willow natural hoop fence to reduce the risk of children and dogs going into the area.
OTHER TOPICS
There were then 1 or 2 concerns on each of the following:
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• Preference for “no mow” than reseeding/planting. We will trial one site (Site 2 Orchard Close south verge) on this approach and review the results later in 2022. This also fits in with advice from Somerset Wildlife Trust which is that the more different techniques of rewilding are chosen, so the risk of the scheme failing overall goes down. We may also trial a low willow natural fence to reduce the risk of children and dogs going into the area.
• Preference for “no mow” than reseeding/planting. We will trial one site (Site 2 Orchard Close south verge) on this approach and review the results later in 2022. This also fits in with advice from Somerset Wildlife Trust which is that the more different techniques of rewilding are chosen, so the risk of the scheme failing overall goes down. We may also trial a low willow natural fence to reduce the risk of children and dogs going into the area.
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• Avoid use of mains water for watering seeds during germination. We see mains water as being the only practical solution in periods of dry weather however we will contact Bristol Water to see if they will donate some water butts to the community to compensate.
• Don’t use pesticides or herbicides - we were not planning to use, nor will use, pesticides and herbicides.
• Use native species - we will only be using native species. Take a look at the Plants page on this website.
• Allow non-native species as well - we do not plan to do this. Somerset Wildlife Trust recommend only using native species.
• Plant for different seasons. We plan on seeding / planting a wide range of plants, some of which will flower earlier than others.
• Can you consider daffodils? - we will introduce some bulbs but only the natural wild daffodil variety Narcissus Pseudonarcissus.
We have noticed that daffodils have been planted in some areas. Where feasible we will retain them.
• Sow wild grasses as well - the seed mixes we plan are generally 80% wild grass and 20% wildflowers. This mix is accepted generally as the optimum mix for encouraging wildlife including pollinators.
• Create bug hotels and other habitats - we are planning to build up habitats in hedges where we can at the sites. We will take forward the idea of bug hotels potentially through the school or through the community rewilding workshops being planned.
• Transplant plants into the rewilding areas - we will definitely do this where appropriate. Please contact rewildwrington@gmail.com if you have any spare native species plants in your garden that you would be willing to donate. Please see the plants list on our website.
• Is there a tick issue? - ticks need to have a host animal, with the most common being deer. As our sites do not generally have deer or farm animals, the number of ticks should be low, and is not foreseen to change as a result of rewilding.
• Will the areas become trampled by children? This is a very difficult issue and impossible to enforce. We must ask parents and other adults to help here.
WE ALSO ASKED ABOUT OTHER AREAS THAT MAY BE SUITABLE FOR REWILDING.
You gave us suggestions for other areas we could rewild. Right now we have enough to deal with for spring 2022, but the following areas had a number of supporters:
• The area with the most support was further rewilding of the Churchyard - this is private (Church) land so we will discuss this with the church authorities to see what their appetite is for rewilding.
• The second most popular area is the green in-front of The Plough. We have reservations about rewilding this area because the vegetation could conflict with its use as a community space.We will however discuss this with the pub and the Parish Council.
• The strip of land between Ladywell and Albury along the footpath also received much support for rewilding. This may conflict with the use of the land for grazing purposes but we will discuss it with the owner.
• Many other areas had the support of one or two individuals and we will review them later this year.
We will review all the areas raised during 2022 and hold further discussions with the Parish Council which is also keen to introduce rewilding in more outlying parts of the parish. We’ll come back in autumn 2022 and report on our thoughts for further roll out in 2023.
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