New team starts to help drive forward nature recovery project

A new, temporary role has been launched to help maintain and further improve county wildflower meadows.

The Nature Recovery Streetscene Operatives have been appointed to help support the ongoing maintenance of the Council’s Wildflower Meadows.

The Wildflower Meadows Project helps and protects local nature and supports community wellbeing across the county. It is funded by Welsh Government, through the Local Nature Partnerships Cymru ENRaW project.

During the 2024 season 297 different wildflower species were recorded across these sites and a total of 5,269 individual wildflowers were logged overall, far outnumbering species found on more regularly mown grassland.

Current Streetscene operatives work alongside the Council’s Biodiversity team to manage the meadows in the county alongside other maintenance duties

This new role allows for more dedicated management of meadows across Denbighshire to assist with managing and enhancing the sites as part of Denbighshire County Council’s Climate and Ecological Emergency Response and the Wildflower Meadow project. This is particularly important at this time of year where the right management is vital to ensure the sites establish and develop.

You might spot the operatives out and about doing an early cut and collect of some of our wildflower meadow sites. Some of the sites with low wildflower numbers will benefit from this additional, early summer cut and collect to strip the site of nutrients to reduce grass growth and encourage further wildflowers to thrive.

The new team will also assist with other nature-related and tree maintenance work throughout the county outside of the wildflower season.

Cllr Barry Mellor, Lead Member for Environment and Transport and Biodiversity Champion said: “The new Nature Recovery Streetscene Assistants will really help us improve the management of our meadows across the county. Having the team will help us to be more direct in the way we maintain the sites, especially those that might need deeper intervention to help them flourish stronger to be a better resource for local nature.

“This team alongside our Biodiversity officers will work together to make a real and positive impact on the conservation of important species and habitats within Denbighshire and add diversity and colour across our sites for all ages to enjoy, along with the pollinators at risk who help put food on our tables.”