Some council owned parks and green spaces in Ilkley will be left to permanently grow wild.
Bradford Council has said it is moving away from its “No Mow May” policy to instead leave areas of parks and green spaces to permanently grow wild.
A recent presentation on the authority’s mowing policies said the Council was leaving around one per cent of parks and green spaces to grow wild in a bid to boost biodiversity and “naturalise” the sites.
No Mow May is a scheme aimed at encouraging people to let swathes of green spaces grow wild, starting in May.
The national policy is part of a push to boost the UK’s biodiversity, attracting insects and bees and encouraging wildflowers to grow.
But a report to Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee late last year revealed that there would be more of a focus on introducing by permanent areas of wild growth.
And an officer told Councillors allowing wild growth for just one month “doesn’t really do that much.”
After complaints in previous years, the 2025 No Mow May featured more signage to let residents know why the grass was left uncut.
The report said:
“Several sites were allowed to naturalise in 2025, such as areas of Peel Park, Lister Park Grass Maze, Wibsey Park, Northcliffe Park meadows, Shipley Central Park and Silsden Park.
“We want to go one step further to improve biodiversity across the district and introduce more Naturalised sites, where areas are left to naturalise and are cut once per year, increasing the opportunities for habitats to develop.”
At the meeting, Brian Dobson, one of the officers presenting the report, said:
“We’re trying to move away from No Mow May.
“If you leave a piece of grass to grow and then cut it down in a month’s time it doesn’t really do that much for biodiversity.”
Councillor Alex Mitchell (Lab, Queensbury) pointed out that it was a very low percentage of parks and green space that was being left to grow wild, and asked why more areas of the District were not being left to grow.
He was told that land that the Council was responsible for maintaining includes sports pitches and bowling greens – areas that would be discounted from any “no mow” policies.
They were told that while one per cent did not seem a lot, across the District it came to 190,000 square metres of green space that was left to grow wild.
Mr Dobson said some residents and “Friends of..” groups had differing opinions on the policy, saying while may appreciated the push to introduce more biodiversity into Bradford’s parks and green spaces “some residents prefer the grass cut.”
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