Fall out over rewilding between Walsall councillors continues

Councillor for Paddock ward Gurmeet Singh Sohal said he had never received so much grief over an issue as he has done with rewilding.

The councillor, who has been elected for 11 years, said he was unable to walk around the local area or go to work without being confronted by upset residents.

Further rewilding was one of the savings proposals for the 2025/26 budget, but it has been removed following backlash.

While further rewilding has been removed, the amount of rewilding which occurred during 2024–equivalent to 50 football pitches–will still be in place for 2025.

According to the portfolio holder for street pride, councillor Kerry Murphy, it would cost the authority around £80,000 to return to the grass cutting programme of 2023.

Councillor Mike Bird said to return to the previous grass cutting schedule would be ‘£80,000 well spent’.

Councillor Sohal’s comments were in response to a petition brought to a scrutiny committee meeting about the grass cutting in Park Hall last summer.

Lead petitioner Kay Davies said the amount of rewilding Park Hall residents had to put up with last summer was unfair compared to other areas such as Pelsall and Brownhills.

Both of the main parks on the estate, Wood End Park and Newquay Park were both selected for rewilding last summer, leaving no amenity spaces for children to play.

The Park Hall resident said: “It seems a bit disproportionate for some of us who haven’t got as much greenspaces to start with. It wasn’t the rewilding we had a problem, it was the extent of it.”

More than 950 people from the Park Hall estate signed a petition against the rewilding programme which took place in 2024.

Complaints received against the scheme were higher in Paddock than anywhere else in the borough.

Councillor Sohal said: “I’ve been elected for the last 11 years in this council. I’ve never had so much grief as I have had over the grass.

“People stopped me everywhere, they came to my shop, you wouldn’t believe it, they even stopped me in Birmingham.

“They said ‘What are you doing about the grass?’

“It made my life difficult to walk in the ward, to go to work, I have never seen it as bad in 11 years. I hope this doesn’t carry on.”

Councillor Murphy said that protecting the borough’s most vulnerable came before cutting the grass.

She said: “I’d love to cut all the grass but we have to make budget cuts to protect our most vulnerable.

“We have to look after children and adults, we can’t ignore these. This is what we’re told we’ve got to do, these are statutory duties.

“We’ve tried to compromise as much as we can with you and we will listen to feedback when we start on the grass strategy.”

Currently, the 2025 grass cutting programme is in progress and hasn’t been finalised.

Councillor Bird added: “The amount of money being saved by the reduction in grass cutting is not worth the aggravation you get.

“I’ve always been opposed to long grass, you all know the reason why, because I got bitten by a tick and contracted lyme disease.

“If we were to look at that with a child in a park, quite honestly, whose conscience would that be on?”