Arbury Road Hedge - Undergrowth Planting

Another post about an obscure hedge on a suburban road in Cambridge, removed to give us a cycle lane (which we need) but in such a hurried, silly way that we've lost a lot of local biodiversity, and we're running to catch up and fix it. If we can get this right there's a chance for a better outcome all round. If this hyper-local issue isn't your bag, move on. Ta.

There have been some absurd tweets that the hedge replanting is giving us more biodiversity. Sadly this is going to have to be in part from memory - here's a list of species we lost such that replanting can be done...

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

White dead nettle (Lamium album)

Red dead nettle (Lamium purpureu)m)

Ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea)

White campion (Silene alba)

Upright hedge parsley (Torilis japonica)

Cow parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)

Sweet cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Celandine (Ranunculus ficaria)

Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

Vetch (Vicia sativa)

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

Herb Bennet (Geum urbanum)

Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum)

Hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale)

Three cornered leek (Allium triquetrum)

Crow garlic (Allium vineale)

Snow drop (Galanthus nivalis)

Bramble (Rubus fructicosus)

Dewberry (Rubus caesius)

Common hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium)

Flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum)

Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)

Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Sweet violets (Viola odorata)

Chickweed (Stellaria media)

EDIT: Yes, I said it was from memory. Please allow me to have a crap, patchy memory that needs the occasional jogging. Some others that were there:

Smooth sow thistle (Sonchus oleraceus)

Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Queen Annes Lace (Dacus carota)

Curled leaved dock (Rumex crispus)

Ladies Bedstraw (Galium verum)

Burnet (Sanguisona minor) - I think it was this burnet, could have been another one

Burdock (Arctium minus)

EDIT: Looking back at this and baffled at some of the things I missed that I know grew there...

Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis)
Self Heal (Prunella vulgaris)
Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Hedge Bindweed (Calystegia sepium)

To fix this we need representative species selected from above to be. Some (chickweed, dandelion, nettle) will be back of their own accord very quickly. Some (crow garlic, oxeye daisy, sweet violets, many others) really ought to be replaced. I'm not immediately sure which are the best to get in first and, again, getting locally sourced biodiversity back should be at the top of the priority list.

I can't do this alone, City Deal. When do you start with this and whats the plan please?

EDIT: I don't see any real need to replace plants that'll find their own way back very quickly. Its a roadside in Cambridge, we'll see fat hen, chickweed, goose grass, nettle and dandelion in no time at all. But we had other plants there that will struggle to re-establish, variously because they're quite shy growers here to begin with or because the conditions on a modern roadside aren't the same as they were when the hedge was established. I've talked to the BTCV and Cambridgeshire Wildife Trust and they're both tearing their hair out about this - its really hard to re-establish undergrowth like this, especially after the hedge has gone in.

The best plan from those discussions seems to be to select some 'winners' and work to re-establish them in the hedge, and then hopefully they can spread from there while other plants re-seed over time. Can I suggest that we should maybe pick a dozen species that will struggle on their own and get those in at various points? I'm going to suggest, as a starting point, ladies bedstraw,  white campion, upright hedge parsley, sweet cicely (one of only two places I've found this wild in Cambridge, really worth restoring), snowdrop, dewberry, common hogweed, oxeye daisy, sweet violets, burdock, herb robert and garlic mustard? I don't anticipate the whole hedge be re-planted thus, and I'm entirely open to alternate suggestions for plants to restore the undergrowth.

Arbury Road Hedge and Cycle Lane - A little more promising

Here's what it was looking like yesterday...

So the planting isn't being done badly as far as I can tell - they need a good watering though, and soon, if they're not to suffer. 

There's lots of space for a high quality cycle lane to follow - I'm still disappointed that the plans for this haven't emerged. I get that there could be a colossal unknown gas main down there and maybe the plan might have to be subject to change for unforeseen circumstances, but I still maintain that a blueprint of the plan should be available before we're asked to decide whether we approve or not. Surely its fair to base my willingness to surrender space from use (a) to use (b) can reasonably impinge upon the quality of provision afforded to (b)?

But I think I've otherwise got better news. Some things that City Deal have agreed on. Now I don't as a rule blog up anything emailed to me verbatim (seems rude) but I will this time, because I can't really see why not. Here's what they've agreed to (and my thoughts in italic next to it)

-          A post and wire fence to be installed to support the hedging, and to stop people trying to walk through it. We inevitably need at least a temporary fence - ugly but necessary and, frankly, I don't care about the specific details. This is better than a roll-up chestnut fence in that it produces less shade

-          80 metres of additional hedging (11 metres near Albermarle Way and 70 metres replacing the City Council planted section that largely failed). Good news also - necessary to replace the complete pigs ear the City Council made of replanting last year

-          A new American Lime tree on the wide verge section. Not a bad choice, it'll sit well with the hybrid limes nearby - not my first choice in that spot but an entirely decent idea

-          Some Cambridge Gage trees planted within the new hedge. This is a huge win, if it happens - great tree for wildlife and replaces the gage trees lost therein - its a matter of principle that we maintain at least some of the agricultural history of the site

-          A Spanish Oak tree planted in Arbury Town Park. 

-          An unhealthy tree to be felled in Arbury Town Park, to give more room and light for the nearby trees to flourish. These are both appropriate tree management strategies in the location specified - Spanish oak will do ok in this spot, and some thinning of the trees referred to here is necessary

-          Under planting within the new hedge. Species to be determined, but likely to include Dogrose and Hogweed, as per your suggestion. Another win - hard to get this up and running this season, and a daunting task to get it right, but a hedge is more than just the trees and unless we replace them 

-          A ‘no spray’ management regime to ensure the under planting can grow. Essential. We can't re-establish a proper hedge without this

-          Consideration given to bat boxes, but this will depend on how feasible it is to site these on buildings and taller trees. Running to catch up with the last hedge removal scheme which was so horribly botched - good news

So where are we now? Well, I think that the point of getting a consultation on hedge/tree removal right to facilitate cycle lane construction has hit home. Its been, from my perspective, a pigs ear of a process (as detailed in earlier posts). 

The shrubs going in are wrong. Its that simple - I defy anyone to show a hedge of any decent age made up thus in and around this part of Cambridge. Yes, there are a few species there that weren't in the original hedge, but there were species in the original hedge that aren't in this - getting greengage back was a fight, we've lost elder, ash seedlings, flowering currant, bullace and others. 

What I really hope from this is that next time we do better - if we cock these schemes up we'll see nothing but opposition to further improvements in cycling facilities.

Maybe we've saved this now. Maybe. We'll see.

The continuing saga of Arbury Road.

So I met with the chap from the County Council.

There's still not much can be done to fix things, but. I've made some suggestions, in addition to procedural ones I'e already made. If you're not interested in the specific ecology of an obscure hedge on the outskirts of Cambridge, read no further...

Still with me?

Really?

Ok.

Suggestions for rescuing as much as possible from this:

(1) When the rather horrid leylandii hedge along part of Arbury Road was cut and replaced (badly) in 2014 we lost a site where bats roosted in Summer. Pippistrelle I think. The consultation that ought to have been required (asking people who live more than 20 yards from the site) didn't happen. As the entirely botched re-planting is being replaced, can we look at doing something for bats? Might that include putting roosting boxes for them up on the flats nearby or selecting trees that give the kind of habitat required? I approached Councillor Price about this at the time, but nothing came of it.

(2) A hedge isn't just a row of shrubs or trees. A hedgerow is an ecosystem, a continuity of growth that outlasts any of the individual plants, able to persist for hundreds of years. To remove a hedge completely and then replant shrubs and trees isn't replanting the hedge - its simply putting the scaffolding back up. As it happens much of the hedgerow had been badly managed for years anyway, so I was keen to view this as an opportunity to allow some of the hedge biodiversity to recover. But thats best done when you plant the hedge, so we're running to catch up with that. Does the hedge management plan allow that if we specify some under-planting, some native plants that can thrive there providing habitats, that they won't be regularly sprayed with weed killer? Will you support an undertaking to source and replace some native flora under and around the shrubs?

(3) Its heartening to hear that suggestions for trees to incorporate haven't been entirely ignored - especially Cambridge gage and Chivers delight apple. But the point of suggesting that they be replanted in the hedgerow rather than as specimen trees is that hedgerow planting can allow a tree to thrive for decades - the greengages that were removed from the hedge were most likely there since before the housing estate here was first built. I rather fear we've played a game of Chinese whispers and what was suggested for the hedge is now being specified for other planting instead. I'm glad to hear that we're getting new trees planted as well, but planting more gage or plum trees would seem a poor fit with the City Council tree strategy, which is to broaden out the range of species planted. Can we please get these trees into the hedge and look at the goal of broadening the range of species planted elsewhere? 

(4) There is still a lot to be said for local biodiversity. If we can take cuttings of local cultivars of dog rose, bramble etc. will you facilitate planting of those into any gaps that may emerge or be made in the hedge?

If we can make positive steps on these points I'll be happy that the scheme hasn't been entirely insensitive to local ecological concerns. Ball is in City Deals court now...

Arbury Road Cycle Lane - Completely at a loss now

So they've started replanting. For reference, see this post. And then this one.

Its been done that quickly. Because it has to be, its a desperate mad dash at the end of the season for replanting. Past the end, really - its a crazy time to be doing this.

It seems like every time I post about this I'm posting with 'whats done is done' and then coming up with more suggestions to fix things. I've done that all the way through but its not changed a damn thing. And I don't know what to do now.

The thing about Kings Hedges, the thing with this part of North Cambridge, is that generally speaking its a lot more relaxed than much of the rest of Cambridge. How shall I put it... The resident demographic here isn't entirely dominated by aged NIMBYS. Seriously, the pester power of Kings Hedges residents is a fraction of that of Milton Road residents - we've seen a battle royale down there over a few relatively bland specimen trees rather than a constructive discussion on how to get a better planting scheme. So for the most part Kings Hedges doesn't get the same attention as elsewhere, because it hasn't got the same 'pester power' as other parts of the city. Its the closest thing Cambridge has to a working class ward - people for the most part tut and move on rather than get involved in local projects.

So here I am, following my own advice and engaging constructively to get a better planting scheme, and I think I've been taken for a complete mug. The replanting has been done with extraordinary haste, apparently with what they could get rather than what they'd choose to order locally, because its being rushed at the wrong time of the year. And not clearly within the remit of the consultation, without real sensitivity to the ecology or history of the site. 

And now? A good chap at the County/City Deal who's phoned me to say lets meet and talk about what to do? Now? NOW? I just don't get it. What do you want to do now? Are we really going to discuss what kind of fence you're installing as a temporary measure to keep people from trampling it down? Sorry, like, I don't care what kind of fence. Why would anyone care about that? I mean, we could discuss whether there's any scope in specifying under-planting, but I just don't trust them to do it. At all. Why would I? They were discussing options for replanting the hedge having already bought plants to put in, why would I believe them now? Does such even make sense until we see the replanting scheme?

I can't any longer see a compromise position between what they've done, how they've done it, and getting a planting scheme that fits culturally, historically and ecologically. 

The folk at City Deal seem to assume that this is about me wanting to be heard. It isn't. Its about getting the best outcome such that in future I can, hand on heart, tell other people in the Greater Cambridge area to trust them to deliver high quality infrastructural improvements while taking local concerns into account. After this? Don't trust them. Get every facet, every detail, every last bit, on paper before even agreeing to fill out the consultation forms. You can't trust them. Don't even think about it.

--------------



EDIT: Text of email just sent to Chief Exec of City Deal. She emailed to say that one of the cycling folk there would ring me and ask to meet. I just can't see whats left to discuss.

Thanks Rachel. xxxx did call me, but what is there left to discuss? The complete removal of old hedging following a road line over 200 years old (precisely whether these sections were among those straightened in the 1700s is hard to ascertain) really needed to be explicit in the consultation, and it wasn't. Then the farce of pretending that what plants might be ordered could still be influenced AFTER the plants were already ordered, that order being for a mixture that isn't sensitive to local ecology or the history of the site. And thats at the very tail end of the planting season so the order is from a nursery hundreds of miles away (so unlikely to be local cultivars of the plants) - this scheme seems to be about what plants could still be bought, not whats good for the site.

xxxx is a good guy, but I just can't see a compromise position between where we are now and a solution that fixes the replanting scheme. I'm open to suggestions, but I see little left to be positive about here. With the scheme where it is now I'm not immediately able to think of any way to restore faith in the City Deal being sensitive to such concerns in the future. Right from the start I was asking about under-planting so establish a more diverse hedgerow and I did suggest various trees of particular relevance to the history of the site - it seems awfully late in the day to talk about that after the hedge has been planted, and unless the management plan is sensitive to such (which I doubt) then thats also unlikely to be successful.

Sorry to be so negative, but I'm really at a loss to see what engagement with City Deal has achieved here,

Yours,

Arbury Road Cycle Lane - What Next?

Well I rang, and emailed, to complain about this.

Response was lacklustre - they wanted to sort of talk me out of complaining by simply repeating themselves, there seemed to be some idea that maybe if someone else told me I'd understand (rather than accepting I understand and just don't agree). There are some good folk there, but they're in such a rush to get this done and replanted that there's really been no wiggle room. I think they've had to take what native-species mix they could get, with little choice right at the end of the season (I know that Elveden had sold out so they've had to go to another compay up in Yorkshire), and the result seems to have been a hurried order for, what I believe, to be the wrong mix of plants. Farcical - this needed to be planned in Autumn to do over Winter.

I was of course told that the Chief Exec of the City Deal would only say the same thing and that I had to go through the County Council complaints process (which MIGHT give me an initial response within 10 days - well after the planting will have been done), which was a load of crap really - its urgent NOW. Total removal of the hedging wasn't made clear in the in the consultation, I cannot describe the difference between the consultation and reality as anything short of a massive democratic deficit. To be directed to a complaints procedure only tangentially related and almost suspiciously designed to allow a response so slow as to make the process meaningless? Well, thanks but no thanks.

So I phoned and asked or the chief exec. And was told that this wouldn't be possible and re-directed again, and again, to the same 10 day + complaints process. And I persisted and eventually was given chief execs email address, and she also phoned me back later on. I expressed my concerns, and the urgency of the situation.

The hedge has now gone, except for one very short section where presumably they found a birds nest? Although if that nest hasn't been abandoned it would be a bleeding miracle, with the raging sound of the saws and shredders nearby. Both sections of hedge are gone, there is effectively nothing remaining. It has been totally destroyed. There is a (bad) replanting plan for the hedge itself but no plan that I'm aware of for under-planting. A hedge isn't a row of shrubs, its an ecosystem with multiple levels of growth, with different plants thriving in different ways, and this was an opportunity to create that in a space that had been badly managed. Looks like that opportunity is rapidly slipping away.

We still haven't seen plans for the cycle lanes - I know that in my own initial feedback I advocated for a different approach which would have provided a genuinely huge amount of space for world-class cycle provision, and I'm concerned that we've got as far as digging over before even knowing what we're going to get out of the project. Junction improvements are needed - but the longer we go without seeing the plans the more I think this is going to be a bargain-basement cycle lane barely wider than I am. If I were in their position and planning a really good facility I'd be singing it from the rooftops, but they're not.

Right, that enough 'told you so', and fretting. I don't like being critical without providing at least some thoughts for improvement. Lets get this straight - the project, even with the wrong plants, is saveable. Just about. Here's what I'd like to see:

(1) Can we have, in black and white, a statement as to the minimum standard of the cycle lane along its width? Not between (x) and (y) widths, but a plan showing how wide in each location with, crucially, a minimum standard of 2m? That is, after all, the width recommended in pretty much all documentation. In the alternative plan I put forward such wouldn't even be a challenge - so lets have that same standard please.

(2) Dogwood isn't a good hedging plant near primary schools - it is both emetic and parts of the plant can induce a rash. Neither spindle or alder-buckthorn thrive in this part of the City. If we really must have these plants can we have the hedging replanted as a staggered double row with the dogwood on the road side and alder-buckthorn and spindle staggered with strains that are locally more vigorous, such as blackthorn and hawthorn? When we (inevitably) risk gaps emerging when a short term establishment care plan ends, we'll at least have a barrier this way.

(3) We've lost greengage from the hedge when it was ripped out - we can still re-plant with Cambridge gage (which was previously growing pretty well there) and, and with the apple 'Chivers delight', both of which are excellent fits historically for this part of the city. They'll thrive in a hedge - and actually do so in other hedges in North Cambridge.

(4) Can we have clear guidance going forward on consultations in similar scenarios - plans really must include the quality of pavement and cycle lane provision, accurate and honest account of how much of a hedge or how many (and which) trees will be removed, and an appreciation of the species they'll be replaced with (and age of plants to be replaced). Lets have that up front, alongside an estimate of timing - I would certainly have voiced a very serious concern about dashing to do this with hastily bought shrubs at the arse end of the planting season, had it for even a heartbeat occurred to me that this might happen.

Maintaining biodiversity isn't about picking out a hedging mix broadly representative of an entire nation, its about understanding what grows well where you are and getting your schemes right within that context. We can still save this intended botch job from being the embarrassment that calls into question all other City Deal road schemes, which is pointed at as a reason why City Deal must not be trusted, but it requires at least a modicum of engagement from City Deal in restoring trust. 

Come on guys, work with us here. Fix this. Its not too late, if you actually give a damn. 

If not, go right ahead. To me, it looks like you're drawing your battle lines.

Arbury Road Cycle Lane - Its all gone wrong...

You might be aware that I've been, largely, supportive of the Arbury Road cycle lane scheme.

I mean yeah, there were better ways to do this. We could have had a cycle lane of the same or higher quality in a much larger space, within a gnats whisker the same length, and not had to remove more than a few feet of mature hedgerow. But that isn't how how the City Deal roll, so I set out my constructive support of the scheme on the basis that we re-plant hedgerow that is locally sensitive. I discussed with them the age and mix of species currently present, alongside what is and can be successfully used locally based on traditional land uses, local ecology, local geology and soil type, and historic culture. The hedge has been poorly managed over many years, but its still an historic boundary in an area of the city that is, after all, called Kings Hedges, so its worth getting it right. I even contacted the county archaeologists to find out whether there is any concern in excavating a boundary of this age (its an old road and very likely an ancient route, connecting Arbury Camp to Chesterton along the line of an old mill way). Bluntly, there wasn't any more I could do.

Taking my bike campaigning helmet off for a moment, I'm going to don my foragers cap. I pick and use a lot of wild food, and I blog about this far too infrequently. Foraging isn't quite the same as growing food, the ethos is being able to go to the same sites year after year to gather wild mushrooms, fruit or greens sustainably. You have to concentrate on doing no harm because you want to go back again next year and the year after. So if you want to know whats in your local hedgerows go and ask a forager - I promise you, they've been eyeing up all the local hedges for years learning what grows well there, what doesn't, and how different management strategies that are employed impacts upon what grows and how. A forager can tell you, at a glance, whether a hedge is a healthy, species diverse mix that will be good for wildlife or if its just a row of bushes. A forager will probably be able to deduce information about former land use practices from whats growing in the hedge, and how its growing. So where there's a synergy of replanting a hedge to restore an historic boundary in a sustainable, practical manner that also facilitates a better cycling environment? Well I had to get into it.

It turns out that I achieved, well, nothing. They'd already bought the plants during the time I was having the discussions with them. So why have that discussion? Why waste my time and effort in a discussion you know to be futile? They've included two species really unlikely to thrive and which therefore play no part in local ecology (and are therefore not usually components of hedgerows in this area), and a toxic one which is worryingly appealing to children to eat on a cycle route connecting primary schools. And the consultation that was on reducing or removing some sections of hedge? Its all dead, Dave. All of it. It hasn't been cut, trimmed or reduced. It has, in its entireity, been destroyed. To the root. Every part thereof. This isn't a reduction, its an act of total destruction in a desperate rush before too many birds try to nest in the doomed site.

I'm all for being positive about good schemes - and the cycle lane, and junction improvements, are sorely needed here, although I'm tearing my hair out at the fact that the final plans for this scheme have still not been published - how can you ask us to support or oppose a cycle lane scheme without giving us specifics about width and means of segregation along the whole length? But no cycle scheme exists in isolation and the risk here is that we lose any good will we might have had in other schemes by this one being done with a minumum of quite deceptive consultation, with no regard for local ecology. Putting the wrong plants in and stubbornly trying to keep them alive for a mimumum amount of time before they're out-competed by other plants better suited to the space is a stupid way to proceed, and to do so in a desperate rush at the end of the planting season (I'm reading 'financial year' here, it seems more likely) is just wrong. The expense is greater, and the risk of failure is greater. And you know who'll get blame from the local press? Cyclists. Its not even wholly a cycle scheme, but the visible cycle lane in place of the previously mature hedge next to the gappy replanted shrubs will be what people point at. 

The likely outcome here is that the spindle and alder buckthorn will struggle on for a while, at least for a year or two while they're being actively maintained and (crucially for the alder buckthorn) watered. And then they'll die off, as they're not suited to the site and soil (neither, when planted locally, thrive) and they'll be out-competed by other plants therein. Most likely that will include the dogwood, blackthorn and hawthorn which will do fat better on this site. The less healthy, struggling specimens will become the places people cross the road - that'll be where people will walk through and trample the hedge down. It'll very likely end up a gappy, ugly, inconsistent hedge. We'll be complaining in years to come to get it re-planted but by then the damage will be done - there won't be funding to re-plant with more mature plants to replace those sections, and any whips planted therein will again be trampled. Get this wrong, it'll very probably stay wrong. 

Or in other words, a 'native hedgerow mix' might be representative for the UK, but hedging isn't the same everywhere. This isn't an appropriate mix locally, either for the ecology or hedgerow culture.

If we get this wrong we jeopardize future schemes because people won't support cycle schemes if they can't trust those implementing them to come up with sensitive tree and hedgerow replanting schemes. This was so close to being an ideal opportunity to satisfy ecological, aesthetic and transport needs within the context the local culture of historic hedgerows. But its failing, because of the stubborn haste to progress with a scheme quickly rather than sensitively. 

And that is a desperate shame. Hand on heart, how can I tell the folk campaigning on Milton Road or Histon Road trees to trust Cambridge City Deal to do the right thing after this? How can I tell anyone, to trust them in any way, after this?

Arbury Road, Hedge and Cycle Lane, 4.

Hi xxxxx,

I remember the consultation - and you'll recall that which hedges might be removed, when, and what and how would be replanted, were not a clear part thereof. '"Reducing sections of hedge" certainly does not mean the same thing as removing a large part of the hedgerow and replanting it, as I'm sure you'll agree. You can't justify not consulting properly on the wholesale removal and replanting thereof based on a vague premise.

If it was January before there was any consensus on the design for this stage of the Arbury Road scheme, with the removal of plants so late in the season, I'd question whether this is the right year to do it. As a cyclist (and active cycling campaigner) I'd also suggest that the final plans should first be shared before construction starts. Are they even available for viewing?

You've also not meaningfully consulted on the replanting scheme - few local people have had an input there, and I've only been able to do so myself by having spotted the coloured paint on the road.

So I accept that the city deal has approved this, but I've seen no particular to-and-fro between councillors and residents regarding the specifics of the approved scheme, and I've yet to come across anyone else who's had any input into the replanting. I'm also conscious that the last replanting scheme done on Arbury Road was botched from the outset, and promises from councillors (specifically Kevin Price) to look at replacing the lost bat-roosting habitat with roosting boxes on nearby flats came to nothing - most of the replanted hedge was poorly selected, poorly planted, and turned its nose up and died. I don't disapprove of cutting down what was a pretty awful row of leilandi, but its a great example of a rushed bodge job at the end of the season that avoidably ruined habitat without any mitigation by not consulting even the whole street that the hedge bordered. After that I'm not disposed to just believe assurances it'll all be ok!

I accept that if the scheme is to go ahead this year there's a real rush to do so, but I'm uncomfortable with the idea that doing so in a hurry is better than getting things right. For example getting the new plants in right at the tail end the planting season can easily go wrong if we have an early summer or warm spring - its a big ask keeping spring planted trees alive if they've had little time to put any roots out. And while I've got views on what should be re-planted based on the history, ecology, safety and further use of the site I do think that a specific consultation on that part of the scheme would be beneficial - and as there isn't time this planting season I'd choose to do so for next season.

While I'm entirely in favour of building cycle facilities on Arbury Road (indeed I think its vital we get a high quality facility along the whole length of the road if we're going to connect Orchard Park and Kings Hedges to key parts of the city such as the Beehive Centre), as I've not seen the final specs for what you plan to build on this section and as its being done in such a rush, I'm worried both about the replanting plans and the cycle route. I feel like we're rushing this for the sake of getting it done with insufficient consideration to the end results. It would be a huge shame to squander an opportunity to improve cycling, local ecology and aesthetics of the area, and it seems thats at risk.

One final note - its not a good time for taking cuttings of local dog rose yet, that'll be much more successful done a month or so from now. I'll do so when they're starting to bud, but I'll struggle for space to grow them on before planting them out. Can I give them to anyone at that point? I've also taken samples of violets, wild alliums and cuttings of ribes from the site, and I'll re-wild them back into the hedgerow probably next Spring.

Thanks,

Cab.