I WISH to petition Herefordshire Council about the management, or mismanagement, of grass cutting of the Bishops Meadow and King George Playing Fields in Hereford.

This is done every week or so in the summer. The way it is done reduces the areas to barren, ugly wasteland.

OTHER NEWS:

These are the points the council should take heed of:

1. It is unnecessary to scourge the meadow and fields with the frequency they do. It destroys the vital growth of wild flowers.

It is true that a narrow belt of growth is left un-destroyed on the fringes, and those are the only patches on the meadows which retain a sense of seasonal integrity, but it is insufficient.

The council’s approach lacks ecological and aesthetic coherence.

2. The cut grass is not gathered up but is left to rot. This is an eyesore and keeps people away.

It is a huge volume of waste. Leaving it behind, spread over the whole area, is inconsiderate and thoughtless in many ways.

Children cannot play games amid the debris, walkers struggle with footwear smothered in dead grass, picnickers cannot settle down, asthma and hay fever sufferers are at risk, the general public (who expect to enjoy walking and leisure in a pleasant natural environment which has not been desecrated) are ignored.

Is the failure to gather up and remove the cut grass a deliberate omission, indifference, or sheer laziness? Whatever the reason, it makes a mess of the green

spaces and leaves them ugly and uncongenial.

I hope other readers, residents and ratepayers might support this initiative and urge the council to take its responsibility with greater sensitivity and professionalism.

JOHN COULTON

Hereford

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