We’re creating a buzz with nature friendly zones

We’re buzzing to share the good news that this summer we’ve planted some nature friendly zones in our neighbourhoods to bring a burst of colour and help us reduce our impact on the environment.

Last summer a number of our customers told us you would welcome wildflower plots in your areas to help attract bees and insects and boost natural habitat for wildlife.

We’ve listened and have planted wildflower plots with ‘bee bombs’ and a selection of wildflower seeds in areas across neighbourhoods to create our own areas for flowering plants to grow.

David Wrigley, our Head of Neighbourhood Care said: “Through our satisfaction surveys and feedback, customers are increasingly telling us that they want to see greener ways of working as we look after your neighbourhood and we are responding to this. The wildflower plots will bring all kinds of benefits - offer habitat for a multitude of bees, butterflies, bugs and birds; encourage more local people to connect with nature; and help us create an attractive environment for our customers to live. I’m looking forward to seeing the plots bloom and hearing what our customers think of them.”

What to expect

We have planted the bee bombs in sections of communal grass in Bardsley, Glodwick, Sholver, Chadderton, Shaw and Royton.

It will take around two growing seasons (18 months) for the wildflower plots to grow colourful flowers and flourish. We planted the bee bombs in March ’21 so you may begin to see flowers and wildlife by the end of summer and next spring.

Grass cutting

Our Neighbourhood Care team is continuing to deliver its annual grass cutting programme to keep the area where you live looking good through the spring and summer months.

Our team is busy carrying out the first cut of grass in neighbourhoods across the borough. Social distancing guidelines to keep you and our colleagues safe mean only two members of our team may travel together in a van, and it will take us five weeks to get round the borough to do the first cut of grass. We thank all of you for bearing with us during the initial grass cutting period.

We are continuing to monitor official coronavirus advice from the government and by May we hope to be in a position where we can safely move to cutting grass in your area on a two to three week schedule until the end of the grass cutting season in October.

Find out when our team will be cutting grass in your neighbourhood on our schedule on our grass cutting schedule page. We do our best to keep to this schedule but unfortunately we can’t cut grass when the weather and ground conditions are wet. We cut grass on land we own outside the boundary of your home. We don't collect the cuttings but they will be blown away from your property and footpaths will be swept clear of any grass after every cut. If you see any we’ve missed, let us know using the form on our website.