Council told about grass fire in Cuckmere Way, Hollingbury, Brighton

A fire outside flats in Brighton started in long dry grass that wasn’t cut when it was due to have been, councillors were told.

The revelation came at a Brighton and Hove City Council meeting after Conservative councillor Anne Meadows submitted a written question.

At a full council meeting at Hove Town Hall, Cllr Meadows asked: “Last year, Hollingbury had at least one serious fire in an area of long dry uncut grass near Stanmer Heights.

“When will the grass be cut this year? And what measures will be taken this year to reduce the chances of grass fires?”

There are fears of grass fires during the hot summer months

Firefighters were called out to Cuckmere Way, in Hollingbury, on Saturday 13 August when a fire started in long grass near flats.

Green councillor Steve Davis, who jointly chairs the council’s environment, transport and sustainability committee, replied at the meeting last Thursday (30 March).

Cllr Davis said: “For many years some grass area in the city have been left to grow long with a cut once a year without significant problems with fires.

“Recently, as a response to the biodiversity emergency, we have altered mowing regimes on most verges and some parks to provide food and habitat for our wildlife.

“In keeping with a lot of other authorities, verges are being allowed to grow longer and flower through the summer.

“The revised mowing arrangements agreed by the environment, transport and sustainability committee was for spring mowing and autumn mowing, with a flowering period in between.

“Due to staff shortages last year, in some areas no spring cutting was done so there was a greater volume of grass by late summer.

“These staff shortages were part of the national labour market issues experienced in Britain following the pandemic and Brexit.

“This administration has significantly increased the pay of the lowest paid workers. This has subsequently benefited Cityparks staff by enabling us to attract applicants for our vacancies.

“This means that we will be starting this year in a much better position than last, facilitating us to get the spring cuts done.

“We know that the new approach to managing verges is improving them for wildlife.

“We have recently had the Wilder Verges Project Report which found that 70 per cent of the verges surveyed had downland species or pollinators present in the most recent survey that were not present at all in 2021.”