Newcastle Council pledges to avoid fake grass as part of declaration of biodiversity emergency

Newcastle City Council has committed to ways of protecting wildlife as part of declaring a biodiversity emergency in the city.

As part of the plans it has promised to stop using weedkiller and plastic grass, and will look at introducing a 'memorial meadow'.

During a council meeting on Wednesday 6 July, a cross-party motion from Newcastle's Labour and Liberal Democrats committing to "protecting and restoring the city's parks and green spaces" was backed unanimously.

Under the proposals, the council said it would end its use of weedkillers over the next five years.

Weedkiller sprays can contain glyphosate-based herbicides, a chemical which kills most plants.

Further promises included creating a memorial meadow where seeds and flowers could be planted in memory of loved ones.

The council hopes that this will stop people holding balloon releases which have long been condemned by environmental groups.

They have also promised to look at a potential natural burial ground, where the deceased may can be laid to rest and wildlife is left to flourish on private land.

Councillor Jane Byrne, Labour's cabinet member responsible for the environment, told colleagues that the plan would help turn Newcastle into a city "as famed for our biodiversity as we are for our industrial heritage".

She committed to work alongside residents worried that allowing wildlife to flourish would leave areas looking untidy, while adding that the set of pledges was a "comprehensive set of actions that will make a real and lasting difference".

Lib Dem councillor Gareth Kane said: "It is well understood that nature is good for our mental health and physical well-being so we must have nature in the inner city as well as the urban fringes.

"Creating natural areas in the inner city also helps improve air quality, reduces flood risks and supports bees and other pollinating insects essential to life on earth.

"We've become concerned that current policies are not strong enough to ensure nature can thrive in our city. For example, the fake plastic grass recently installed at Cowgate junction not only looks horrible, but will release micro plastics into the environment over time."