By Joe Locker, Local Democracy Reporter
More than five acres of wildflower meadows and 9,000 trees have been planted across Gedling to help bees and pollinating insects.
Gedling Borough Council passed a motion in January 2021 concerning the adverse effects of herbicides and pesticides which have been leading to the decline of pollinating insects.
It has since reduced their application and banned the use of the herbicide glyphosate on council-managed parks and open spaces.
During a Scrutiny Committee meeting on Monday, April 22, Melvyn Cryer, Head of Environment, said the use of neonicotinoids has also ceased.
Neonicotinoids are toxic to pollinating bees and can disrupt their ability to navigate and reproduce.
The pesticide can only be used with Government-approval and if there is a risk to crops. However, they have been approved for use for four consecutive years, with the most recent being granted in January this year.
“In January 2021 the council stopped the use of neonicotinoids and glyphosate across all public access land that it manages, in a proactive effort to reverse the disruption to the bees and pollinators’ habitats, and protect human health,” Mr Cryer said.
Unused areas in parks and open spaces have been utilised as wildflower meadows to further promote the health of pollinators.
“The total area now set aside for wildlife meadows is 5.5 acres and is growing each year,” he said, adding that a total of 9,499 trees, including flowering variants such as cherry-leafed hawthorne and blackthorne, have been planted over the last five years.
Cllr Kyle Robinson-Payne (Lab) said: “It is really good to see what is happening to support pollinators in Gedling, and considering to see some of this work coming out of members bringing forward a motion just shows what we can achieve together and despite the financial constraints the council finds itself under.
“I just wanted to understand a little bit better how the policy is making an impact in a positive way. How can we look at the decline of bee and pollinating insect populations, how can we look at how that has changed, if at all, since the policy’s enactment?”
Mr Cryer said: “The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust does do insect monitoring at Gedling Country Park, we’ve also had monitoring done at other sites as well, but I will be honest it is something we could improve on.
“One of the issues is that are controlling the land we own directly, but we can only influence on other land areas.
“So, farmers are still spraying their fields with glyphosate and things like that, so the problem with the insect population is it shares that habitat with both farmer’s fields and our own parks and open spaces.”
