By Iain Gray
CUTBACKS to roadside grass-trimming schemes have one MLA worried North Down will be left looking like an untamed wilderness.
Stormont’s Department for Infrastructure used to mow every roadside verge in the province twice per year – a schedule that was itself a money-saving reduction imposed during the austerity period of public spending in the 2010s.
During the 2023/24 financial year, however, rural roads that don’t get much traffic only saw a single trim.
Additional work is occasionally carried out on an ad hoc basis, when severely overgrown flowers and grass cause dangerous obstructions to drivers’ sightlines at junctions.
But the latest reduction in grass-mowing has North Down MLA Alan Chambers concerned that overgrowth isn’t being kept in check.
A long-time critic of the ‘two trims per year’ policy, as he feels it lets roadside verges become out of control, ugly and messy, he’s now concerned that further cutbacks will leave the province’s roads in a wild and woolly state.
“There needs to be a line between promoting biodiversity and maintaining the visual appearance of the area,” he says.
“North Down residents know how bad sections such as Bangor’s ring road can get when they are not kept in check – we don’t want that to be a reflection of the area in the build-up to what will hopefully be a busy tourist season.
“I am calling on the department to do their utmost to ensure that they maintain our beautiful area so it can be shown off to the many who will come to enjoy the warmer days in front of us, and provide a sense of pride to local residents.”
Mr Chambers recently quizzed Infrastructure Minister John O’Dowd about the issue in Stormont, with the Minister replying that last year’s cutback to trims on rural roads ‘increases the department’s focus on protecting wildlife and promoting biodiversity’.
He added that it isn’t yet clear how often roadside grass will be cut in the current financial year, as his department still hasn’t received its final budget.
