Grounds maintenance
It's really important to us to make sure we look after our communal spaces, we want to make sure you love your neighbourhood as much as we do so we're committed to maintaining a grounds maintenance schedule throughout the year.
This includes managing hedges, grass cutting, weed control and shrubs. We look after these things as different times of the year so as to avoid impacting our wildlife, instead we want to help them flourish!
What we do
We're committed to making our communal spaces healthier for nature and people. We want to help wildlife near your home and bring the wellbeing benefits of nature closer to you. If you share your community with local wildlife like birds, butterflies and hedgehogs, you'll be pleased to know we take grounds maintenance very seriously.
Hedges
Hedges are a really important habitat for birds, mammals and insects and help wildlife move between gardens and other green spaces. Hedges are trimmed where needed between November and February. We don't cut them between March and October in line with The Countryside Act 1981 - this is for the protection of wild birds, their nests and eggs.
Shrubs
We'll cut back shrubs in autumn and winter. If a shrub is flowering, we'll leave it alone so that bees, butterflies and insects aren't disturbed. Sometimes, birds will nest in shrubs too, so we have to be mindful of The Countryside Act 1981 again as this also applies to them.
Trees
To help protect the base and roots of the trees in your area, we'll be allowing a small area of grass to grow around these throughout the year. This will help the trees hold more water, so that they stay healthier and safer for as long as possible.
Grass cutting
The main cutting season is between March and November and we’ll cut the grass when we need to. Some areas will be left to grow longer to promote the growth of wildflowers which are really important for bees, butterflies and other insects.
Meadow areas
As part of our work to enhance biodiversity on our land, and increase access to nature for our tenants, we're creating meadow areas in more of our communities. These areas of grass will be allowed to grow over summer, before being cut back in August. These will be cut again in October, when they will be sown with wildflower seeds. This will provide habitat for bees, butterflies and other pollinators over the summer, and help to prevent flooding and overheating.
Spraying/weed control
We'll do this where needed, between March and April, and between July and August.
We try to keep this to a minimum throughout the year to lessen the impact on wildlife but if we do need to spray or manage weeds we'll do so using safe chemicals and only use what is needed.
Extreme weather
During periods of extreme weather, such as heatwaves or heavy snow our maintenance schedule is closely monitored. If needed we'll suspend the activity (for example, grass cutting) until the weather is more suitable.
During this time, our teams will carry out other, more beneficial works within your community.
If you notice something like flooding in a communal area during a period of bad weather, please get in touch with us to let us know what is happening and we'll be on-hand to monitor and support.
We'd love to hear from you
If you have ideas on how we could improve the green spaces in your community, we'd love to hear your thoughts! To get in touch with us, please email biodiversity@flagship-group.co.uk or call 0330 123 1860.
We know that being close to nature is good for our wellbeing, so please email us your photos of the different plants and creatures you spot in your neighbourhood!