COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF LUCAN/PALMERSTOWN/FONTHILL AREA COMMITTEE

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

MOTION NO. 1

MOTION: Councillor E. O'Brien

That this area committee asks the Chief Executive to seek feedback from local residents in relation to grass cutting in estates and in particular in relation to areas to be kept uncut to foster biodiversity.

REPORT:

South Dublin County Council is a signatory to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan, which contains many actions that support pollinators. The main action undertaken by the Council that benefits pollinators involves a restructuring of mowing patterns and timings. This reduced frequency of grass cutting allows wildflowers to flower and set seed, providing additional opportunities for pollinating insects which are currently challenged by habitat loss and chemical usage.  South Dublin County Council have audited some of these wildflower meadows with insect surveys and they display a wide variety of insect life, in some cases quite rare species have been discovered. In order to create the wildflower meadows; altered mowing regimes have been in place in a number of the Council’s larger parks for the benefit of pollinators and biodiversity for a number of years; commencing with Waterstown Park, Tymon Park and Dodder Valley Park . These areas were chosen for their particular soil types, the nature of their botanical composition, and their contribution to the amenity enjoyment of these parks. In 2019 these areas of wild flower meadowland were increased to 90 hectares; at various locations within our parks across the county and this is maintained for 2020.

The use of the 'Managed for Biodiversity' signs assisted with spreading the message and the results have in general been positive.  Most residents supported the initiative and requests were received that other areas also be looked at for similar reduced mowing for 2020 with much positive comment and feedback being received from members of the public.

To develop this further, the 11 Tidy Towns Groups in the county were contacted prior to the 2020 grass cutting season. The following email was sent to the groups in Palmerstown, Lucan, Clondalkin, Newcastle, Rathcoole, Saggart, Brittas, Tallaght, Templeogue, Woodstown and Ballyboden.

“The Public Realm Section would like to build on the 2019 initiative in parks and open spaces where areas of grass around the County were allowed to grow longer during the growing season.   The intention of the reduced mowing strategy was to encourage nectar-rich wildflowers to bloom, providing vital feeding for pollinating insects that are showing national population decreases due to habitat loss and climate change issues.

The approach was seen to be successful in many areas and the response from the public and from social media outlets was largely positive.

For the 2020 growing season, the involvement of local groups would be welcomed, and groups would be encouraged to make contact early in the spring of 2020 when potential project locations are being assessed.   Details required to enable an assessment to be conducted for a pollinator friendly wildflower area include:

Discussions did take place with Lucan and Palmerstown Tidy Town groups on suggested sites, but it was not possible to progress these ideas at the time. This was due to COVID-19 which imposed cocooning restrictions on the Tidy Towns group members and also social distancing restrictions on council staff. It is proposed to revisit this initiative for the 2021 grass cutting season and resident association groups would be most welcome to participate in this initiative.

In the meantime, it is intended to carry out ecological surveys in 2020 in existing meadows and evaluate our success to date in terms of supporting insects and wildlife. This will allow us to also evaluate other locations for this reduced mowing approach. These wildflower meadows are highly important for pollinators as a lot of the meadowland species are native or naturalised and support local pollinators.