Green council chief finally explains why wildflower meadow was destroyed

The Bristol City Council team that destroyed a wildflower meadow planted by volunteers in Bedminster had no idea it had been specially planted, the man now in charge of the environment in Bristol has admitted.

Cllr Martin Fodor (Green, Redland) said the case of the land at the bottom of the Novers Steps showed that communication needed to improve between council staff, contractors and the community.

People living in Bedminster and Knowle West were left furious when the mowers all but completely destroyed the long grass and wildflowers on the corner of Lynton Road and Novers Hill, which volunteers from the local community had spent ages planting in April.

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That planting happened under the previous Labour administration, when Bristol was run by a mayor and cabinet system. Now, with the scrapping of the mayor, Bristol City Council is now run by a series of committees, and the Environment and Sustainability Committee, which oversees the ecological target to manage land for nature, is still yet to meet.

Its chair will be Cllr Fodor, who said he will be working to improve communication so that incidents like the Novers Steps one doesn’t happen again.

“It appears that the Council were unaware of the existence of the wildflower meadow that had been planted here by the community and therefore had not looked to adjust their mowing schedule if necessary,” he said.

“Clearly, we need to improve communication between council staff, contractors and the community where there are different initiatives underway. This is something that I will be working hard to improve.”

“I encourage all members of the public to attend our policy committees to ask questions of the officers themselves, and to bring forward ideas on what the council can do to improve this line of communication,” he added.

Since the wildflowers were cut down at the weekend, the issue became a political row on social media between Labour and Green councillors and campaigners. On Wednesday, Bristol Labour tweeted: "This needless destruction of a community grown wildflower meadow is awful. Local Labour councillors Lisa and Rob (Filwood councillors Lisa Durston and Rob Logan) are pressing the council for answers. The Bristol Green administration needs to take responsibility and get a grip of the issue."

That sparked an angry response from other politicians, including Danica Priest, a local resident who stood for the Green Party in Filwood and came third in May's election, and was also one of the volunteers who planted the meadow in April. "The mowing schedule was arranged by the Labour administration. Using this to blame the Green administration when it's your administration's fault is disgusting," she told Bristol Labour. "Also Rob and Lisa have refused to speak to any of us about this which is poor," she added.

That last claim has since been denied by Labour group leader Cllr Tom Renhard, who said: "The local ward councillors have been engaging with the community group who manages and works on that site and were not approached by any other community groups - they haven't refused to meet with the local group - that is categorically untrue."