LIKE Councillor Dawn Barnett, I've been getting a lot of phone calls and emails about pavement weeds and unmown grass verges (Hove councillor "inundated" by messages on overgrown weeds, Argus, June 10).

With regards to pavement weeds, I'm mystified as to how we have reached this point as a city. I sat on the environment committee when I was first elected as a councillor in 2015. We

regularly discussed pavement weeds and reached a compromise that we would reduce weed spraying to once a year in areas of relatively low footfall ie residential areas, while the council looked for viable and effective alternatives.

After I was re-elected in 2019, I no longer sat on this committee which then departed from the previously agreed position and there has been no weed spraying ever since. This has led to an explosion of pavement weeds and grass which is potentially dangerous and unsightly. There is a small, hardworking team of council staff who manually remove weeds but, of course, most of these weeds grow back.

Reduced grass verge mowing is equally contentious with one Green councillor talking of "grass verge re-wilding" at the recent annual council. Allowing grass verges to grow unchecked, up to waist height in some areas, presents a number of problems. If a person, particularly someone who is elderly, wants to cross the road through an overgrown grass

verge, they will not see any holes or ruts in the ground below and may well trip over. Dog walkers often contact me to say it's impossible to "scoop the poop" when the verge is so overgrown and I've even had residents say that they've suffered bug bites, which have become infected, by walking through the tall grass and weeds in a verge. This situation has become even more difficult with City Parks suffering recruitment difficulties recently.

Everyone wants to see wildlife thrive and biodiversity encouraged but there has to be some common sense applied. Residents' views and concerns are important and local people should not be taken for granted or dictated to. Otherwise, we end up with an urban landscape that resembles a post-apocalyptic zombie film. A tongue-in-cheek statement I know, but some

streets just look truly dreadful and add to a sense of general neglect for many residents.

Cllr Peter Atkinson

North Portslade Independent