Walsall's rewilding plans removed from budget draft following backlash
Walsall Council’s plan to introduce further rewilding has been removed from its draft budget for 2025/26. The proposed policy to reduce the grass cutting schedules across the borough would have saved the authority £50,000.
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But following the backlash to last year’s programme, the council has made the decision to remove the saving from its draft budget proposal. On many occasions officers, members of the public and elected members have aired their gripes about the reduced levels of grass cutting across Walsall.
The general theme of complaints was that the borough looked messy, unkept, leading to a lack of pride and increased levels of antisocial behaviour. While many elected members have been up in arms about the state of the borough, when asked to fill out a form to provide feedback on the grasscutting programme, 42 of the 60 elected members never bothered.
On Wednesday January 15, leader of the council, councillor Garry Perry said it was unfair for the criticism to be solely directed towards the portfolio holder for street pride, councillor Kerry Murphy. He said: “It’s no use criticising the current portfolio holder or anyone else for that matter for the decision that was made.
“It was a collective decision made by this cabinet which I was part of and the other deputy leader as well. It’s unfair to lay criticism with individuals when it was a collective decision to start with.
“We did that consultation throughout the summer. We asked all elected members, all 60 councillors who represent Walsall to give their feedback on the grass cutting strategy, 18 people responded. Some of those with the loudest voices didn’t even respond to councillors Murphy’s call for information, so these decisions could be made in the right way.”
While the saving has been taken out of next year’s draft budget proposal, councillor Perry assured rewilding will still take place across the borough. He said: “Rewilding will still happen in some form, probably not in the same way as initially intended. It will be there in those most appropriate areas.”
In 2024, green areas across the borough equivalent to 50 football pitches were cut only once. It followed the introduction of the government’s Environmental Improvement Plan to create at least 500,000 hectares of rich habitats for a range of wildlife. In addition to improving habitats, the policy was created to improve residents’ health and well-being, help mitigate flooding, and reduce management costs.
