It's proving to be be No mow May in Oldham

A FCHO no mow zone at Lees New Road, Holts Village

First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO) has announced a 25% increase in no mow zones this summer as the housing association increases its help for the borough’s environment.

The area - equivalent to around three football pitches - will see 12,500m2 of grass left unmown until the end of the growing season in October, up from 10,000m2 last year.

The selected zones will be in Chadderton, Waterhead, Oldham town centre neighbourhoods, Royton, Sholver and Werneth.

Other grass cutting will continue as normal in other parts of the neighbourhoods.

“Less is very much going to mean more as this summer we’re changing the way we work in certain areas to help our native flowers, our pollinators and the wildlife that likes the grass to be long,” said FCHO’s head of neighbourhood care David Wrigley.

“Everything we can do to help biodiversity should be done and I know many of our customers have told us they support this simple but effective way to help.

“We hope everyone will benefit from seeing more native flowers and increased insects and wildlife in the places that are not mown.

"The sites will still be visited and checked throughout the cutting season.”

The initiative complements the national No Mow May drive that encourages households not to cut the grass to help wildlife.

FCHO is also working with the National Trust on a range of green projects to improve communities, including the Sky Garden Challenge.

Over the past three years, the housing association has introduced 20,000m2 of natural meadows, wildflower plots and native flower zones across the borough to provide important habitat for nature and tackle climate change.

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