Write to your local authority, encouraging them to change their strategy for mowing parks, verges and public spaces to benefit wildlife. To use the charity Plantlife’s phrase - ‘cut less, cut later’. Sending this letter doesn’t have to become a battle with your council, it can simply offer a perspective they may not have considered, which is that some scruffiness is important. It is possible that councils only receive letters from the ‘tidy brigade’ and would welcome a letter from someone asking them to do less in terms of managing a park. 

Find out if there is a Park’s Trust who are responsible for your community area first, they may send this to your council on your behalf. Alternatively, find out who your councillors are https://www.gov.uk/find-your-local-councillors and email it to them. Finally, you could also try researching the contact at the council responsible for park and verge mowing and contact them directly. They may already be pushing on this door with their council and need public support.

Be as specific as you can about areas you might want leaving, and show some knowledge by naming a few wildflowers - you’re almost guaranteed to have plantain, dandelion, daisy, and yarrow, but have a look in your park for green alkanet, ground ivy, speedwell, dead nettle, mallow, hawkbits/hawkweeds and crane’s-bills (which are wild geraniums). These are possibly present in your park and would add weight to your request. 

Dear [name],

I am a resident local to [park name] and regularly use and appreciate this public space. I have really enjoyed seeing the wildflowers [name if possible] in the park this Spring so far and the pollinators, that rely on their presence, buzzing between them. However, I fear we’ll soon be losing them to a council lawnmower. 

I am writing to ask if the council could begin to adopt a ‘mow less, mow later’ philosophy when managing public green spaces, or specifically in the first instance [park name]? Wildflowers commonly found in parks, such as yarrow, dandelion, and plantain, are widely understood to be essential to wildlife, particularly our pollinators. If these flowers and herbs are cut down before they can complete their flowering and seeding cycle, they will not offer the full benefit to wildlife. If all areas of a park are cut simultaneously, a valuable habitat for insects (who form the bottom of many food chains) is destroyed in a few hours, leaving wildlife devoid of habitat and food. If the council were to leave some areas or margins un-mown, or leave the first cut until June or July, it would be an enormous and much-needed boost to our urban wildlife. 

My request is not for extra funding or a tree-planting campaign, but simply for the council to do a little less in their management of grass, saving petrol, machinery and contractors' time. I understand our public spaces are under pressure to fulfil many recreational activities, but wildlife in the UK is under huge pressure too. Science is beginning to show that people who have access to a thriving natural world see benefits to their wellbeing and physical and mental health. If we were to leave some of our public spaces un-manicured, it would benefit both residents and biodiversity. This should be a high priority to all councils and my hope is that some provision can be made for a little scruffiness in as much of the park as can be dedicated. 

I look forward to hearing from you on this important matter.

Kind regards,

[name]