To ask the Minister for Regional Development for his assessment of the use of the Don’t Mow, Let it Grow campaign as an answer to cuts to funding for urban grass cutting.

My Department is currently working in partnership with the local Council and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) on the ‘Don’t Mow, Let it Grow’ project to restore a relatively small number of public grasslands and road verges within the Causeway Coast and Glens to flower-rich meadows.

This initiative does not mean that my Department will stop cutting grass as the effective biodiversity management of such areas will still require a single cut and removal of cuttings to avoid soil enrichment. However, it would not be considered economically justifiable to do so on a large scale.

As you may be aware, it is my Department’s policy to only cut a strip or swathe width (1.2m) of grass at roadside verges unless noxious weeds take hold or visibility is a problem, in which case grass is cut back further, as appropriate, at each location.

Therefore, even if this project is successful with the results shared across the country, it is likely the initiative will only have a minimal impact both on the amount of urban grass to be cut, for which my Department is responsible, and within the overall context of the budgetary challenges facing my Department.