Banbury school boys face disappointment as councils deflect wildflower plan, meant to 'make people happy'

Caleb and Dylan Thompson, aged nine and seven, wrote to Banbury Town Council after being inspired by David Attenborough’s Wild Isles series, asking if the central reservation in the middle of their road might be sown with wildflower seeds.

They said: “We live on Orchard Way. There is a big grass space up the middle of the road from the bottom of Orchard Way all the way to the top and on the other roads further up, that you cut with your big lawnmower a lot in the summer.

"We are asking you to STOP and plant wild flowers there instead and we have made some posters to show you the reasons why you should do it and how nice it will look.

"It will be beautiful, it will help to protect wildlife, it will help with climate change and help the environment, it will save you money because you won’t have to cut it, there will be less pollution from your lawnmower, it will make people happy when they see the flowers, there will be more bees and they will make more honey because there will be more nectar. It can bring more nature to Banbury.

"We would love to help plant the seeds with our Mum and Dad and speak to our neighbours about helping too.“We really want to help the environment, it’s really important to us. We already walk to school, do litter picking and recycling but want to help more and we think this would be good way to help save the world and make Banbury nicer too. Imagine how pretty it will be. We really hope you like our idea and our posters.”

The Banbury Guardian chased up their request. But the town council said it was Oxfordshire County Council’s (OCC) responsibility; the county said the maintenance was sub-contracted to Cherwell District Council, but the district said it had no powers to add enhancements. So we asked Oxfordshire County Council again but they said the town council would have to manage any scheme agreed.

"Any planting proposals would need to come via Banbury Town Council, and any suggested location would need to be checked by our biodiversity team to advise on species type subject to the soil type/condition,” said the county council spokesman.

“The planting scheme would then have to be managed by either the town council or a volunteer group; it is not something Oxfordshire County Council would take on.”

A spokesperson for Cherwell District Council said: “Cherwell District Council maintains these grass verges on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council. We don’t have any powers to put enhancements for biodiversity in place at this location, it would need to be the county council as the highways authority making any decision regarding this.”

We went back to the town council who said: “It’s absolutely nothing to do with us. As Cherwell says, it maintains the areas on behalf of OCC. The OCC reply says it has the final say but not something they would take on.”

Mum, Jenna Thompson, said the boys had high hopes after writing their letter and would be disappointed if their bid fails.