In March, Conservative-run Plymouth council ordered 100 trees to be removed from Armada Way under the cover of darkness, leading them to be branded “monsters in the night”. Last month Sheffield’s Labour-run city council was forced to issue a lengthy open apology for misleading the public, the media and the courts in a bitter dispute over its “flawed” programme to fell 17,500 street trees – many of which it now accepts were healthy. In some respects what is happening in Salisbury is a microcosm of a wider trend, a clash of values taking place in towns across Britain.
Hands up everyone who saw the phrase “natural aesthetic” and thought “weeds”? Not even the pretty weeds like ivy-leaved toadflax (incidentally my favourite plant), herb robert or henbit deadnettle the annoying ones like bindweed and hogweed. “With greater public interest in this and a demand for more nature-related pursuits, such as gardening for wildlife, there has been no better time to bring a natural aesthetic to our city centre.” “In recent years, we have seen an increasing appreciation and understanding of the importance of the natural world,” said Read. Quite the bold pledge, although whether he’ll get a namecheck at Cop29 remains to be seen Parklets (not to be confused with pikelets) are sexed-up benches with a bit of greenery on the side.Īccording to the city’s environmental services manager, Marc Read, there’s no time like the present to axe Salisbury’s beloved baskets in the name of combating the global climate change emergency. Living towers appear to be vertical planters and terribly useful for growing tomatoes. But, Dear Readers, I have practised due diligence and googled so you won’t need to.
Better than tradition, better than custom, better than civic pride.Įarlier this week Salisbury City Council, which is run by a “rainbow” coalition of Labour, Liberal Democrats and independents, voted to replace the familiar exuberant displays of blousy blooms with “living towers” and “parklets”. No, that’s not a misprint.īecause biodiversity, like every other sort of diversity, is always better.
Yes they are bright and cheerful, much-loved by locals and much-photographed by admiring visitors but it has been decreed they must go due to their lack of biodiversity. Salisbury’s achingly woke council is mounting a crusade against the terrible curse of trailing verbena and far too busy Lizzies, brightening up – oops sorry comrade, blighting – the pedestrian zones. The last time there was a major skirmish round these parts was in 552 when the Battle of Old Sarum saw the Celts roundly defeated by the Saxons.įast forward to 2023 and it’s not quite the War of the Roses (mind you, that’s only because there aren’t any) but I think we can confidently predict the current mutiny over municipal plants will go down in history as the Hanging Basket Hostilities or perhaps the Battle of the Begonias. Throw a cordon militaire round those petunias! Sandbag every marigold bed! Do we have an extraction point for the lobelias yet? Well identify one sharpish who knows when Salisbury’s leaders will mount their frontal assault on the city’s floral displays?
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