This report gives further details of the operational changes involved in the rewilding project, updates the Committee on the results of the experiment and the recommended next steps contained in the draft Wildflower Plan.

The Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services submitted a report which gave further details of the operational changes involved in the re-wilding project, updated members on the results of the experiment and the recommended next steps contained in the draft Wildflower Plan.  The following documents were appended to the report:

Appendix 1 – Site re-wilding information signs used during the experiment;

Appendix 2 – The Wildflower Plan.

The report explained that the rewilding project, which sat within the framework of the Council’s new Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), began in March 2020. The project involved testing what different verges in different parts of Reading looked like over the course of the flowering and seed-setting seasons, how residents responded to changes in the mowing regime, how to carry out practical maintenance issues and whether there were ecological improvements coincident with changes to mowing patterns.

The results of the site-by-site assessment of Phase 1 were set out in detail in the Wildflower Plan and showed that the scheme had also been a success in terms of the maintenance regime.

The report also explained that the review had led to the creation of the Wildflower Plan, which captured the results of the rewilding experiment and made recommendations for achieving the expansion and improvement of the rewilded areas in the Borough, as summarised below:

·     Rewilding of larger verges to continue.

·     The maintenance regime to be changed from an annual cut-and-collect on some rewilded sites to a three-times-a-season cut-and-collect in order to assess the effect on biodiversity and the vigour of both flowers and grass.

·     Some sites to be sown with locally sourced wildflowers and cut only at the end of the season to allow establishment.

·     Marginal rewilding (changing the mowing regime around parks boundaries and margins) be trialled at twelve locations in parks, adding around 2ha (5%) to the current area of conservation grassland.  These would be assessed on the basis of biological performance, appearance and difficulty of management at the end of the season.

·     The Council to continue the public information and consultation started in 2020.

·     The Council to work with business partners to create enhanced-flowering, wild-looking commercial centre schemes that would raise the profile of the rewilding initiatives and contribute to refocusing perceptions of Reading as a ‘green/wild city’.

Resolved:

(1)      That the report and the progress of the Rewilding experimental project in 2020 be noted;

(2)      That the recommendations of the Wildflower Plan be endorsed;

(3)      That the Wildflower Plan be subject to public consultation and its adoption be sought at a subsequent Housing, Neighbourhoods and Leisure Committee meeting;

(4)      That an annual rewilding progress report be submitted to Housing, Neighbourhoods and Leisure Committee at its Autumn meeting.