Over the hedge (From York Press)
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Over the hedge
11:07am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in Letters By Reader's letter
IN RECENT weeks, residents around York have witnessed council ‘bio-warfare’ as hedges and bushes are bulldozed into oblivion before they can be occupied by nesting birds in Hull Road Park, Millennium Bridge, Blue Bridge, Bootham, Grantham Drive and no doubt many more places.
It is clearly a strategy not only to ‘open up’ visibility into parks (so that they can be left unlocked at night in future) but also to remove the cost of cutting greenery back once or twice a year.
My requests for information about the costs involved and any replacement planting to maintain biodiversity within this ‘sustainable city’ have so far proved fruitless. The assistant director responsible claims there is no programme of hedge removal but that this is ‘routine maintenance’.
It is patently obvious to me that planting which has been in place for decades has been summarily dispatched to green waste; hardly routine maintenance. I now await the outcome of my Freedom of Information request and a more complete answer from the council.
Coun Andy D’Agorne, Green group leader, City of York Council.
Comments(9)
Ichabod76
says...
1:17pm Tue 12 Mar 13
as the assistant director says its routine maintenance I doubt it !
as of the 15th of march any hedge to be removed needs to be inspected by an ecologist
old_geezer
says...
3:02pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Oooh - could the hedge blitz in the preceding few days by any chance be connected?
Dr Robert
says...
3:59pm Tue 12 Mar 13
greenmonkey
says...
4:50pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Ichabod76 wrote:Way things are going in the council there wont be an ecologist to consult, unless bought in at times of need as an extra expense - the one we have I doubt was consulted about this work, but then these were not formally designated 'wildlife conservation sites'. Unfortunately the wildlife tends to go where it likes, rather than sticking to the council's official SINC and SSSI sites so will suffer nonetheless. The approach on this fits in with other things this Labour council has done like removing the litter bins - blitkreig action before telling anyone else (resident or local councillor) to prevent any opposition to the plan being mounted.
Andy can you use your position to find out if the council has the proper permits and paperwork for removing hedges ?
as the assistant director says its routine maintenance I doubt it !
as of the 15th of march any hedge to be removed needs to be inspected by an ecologist
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
5:12pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Buzz Light-year wrote:What have I been telling you, Buzz ?
The assistant director responsible claims there is no programme of hedge removal but that this is ‘routine maintenance’.If that's true then that is spectacular spin and by that I mean the stuff that comes out of a bull's bum. Absolutely disgusting. I'm with the councillor on this. If we need to cut spending why rip out our precious green stuff? What's the betting, in a couple of years there will be a "hedgerow initiative"? You know, where the council will be spending wildly on planting hedges all over the place.
This is the same sort of spin (lying and cheating) that has been going on with the affordable housing issue, and Get York Building report manipulation.
I wonder who the Assistant Director involved is ?
mjr119
says...
5:14pm Tue 12 Mar 13
When you make someone redundant, it is your duty as an employer to explore all other alternatives to avoid it. Can't see how the council can possibly claim that it did so.
Surprised York Press didn't pick up on this. Tribunal waiting to happen (unless of course they hadn't been employed for long enough). Still, very poor for a council that bangs on about a living wage.
Richard Feynman
says...
8:28pm Tue 12 Mar 13
Ninja, please.
You make it sound as though they're spraying Agent Orange from Hueys.
greenmonkey
says...
5:46pm Wed 13 Mar 13
No just bulldozing the lot!
Buzz Light-year says...
1:14pm Tue 12 Mar 13
If that's true then that is spectacular spin and by that I mean the stuff that comes out of a bull's bum.
Absolutely disgusting.
I'm with the councillor on this. If we need to cut spending why rip out our precious green stuff?
What's the betting, in a couple of years there will be a "hedgerow initiative"? You know, where the council will be spending wildly on planting hedges all over the place.