Magical roundabouts
Tidy Towns competition is now going blooming wild under new rules
TIDY Towns volunteers have decided to take a walk on the wild side by switching their focus from neat floral displays.
The volunteers, who play a pivotal role in keeping their communities vibrant and appealing, are now at the forefront of promoting both biodiversity and sustainability.
As of last year, the competition has incorporated the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Now, Biodiversity and sustainability are among the judging criteria in the annual competition, which is perhaps more closely associated with pleasant floral displays and freshly cut grass than the current, far less manicured, rewilding patches.
The chairperson of Greystones, Tidy Towns (GTT) committee in Co . Wicklow, Marie McCooey, told the Irish Mail on Sunday: ‘The name Tidy Towns gives the impression that all it’s about is cleanliness and tidiness, but the Tidy Towns programme now is all about taking in the SDGs.
‘It’s gone beyond picking the few
‘Everything is pollinator-friendly’
weeds and picking up the litter.
‘It’s now the whole environment, biodiversity, sustainability – it’s the whole health of the town,’ Ms McCooey added.
The Greystones volunteers are in the process of transforming five roundabouts in the town to represent five aspects of the area.
The first to be completed – free of charge by local gardening company Eden Landscape Services – represents the sea.
Ms McCooey explained: ‘No matter what we plant, we put some kind of a pollinator emphasis on it.
‘We put down a little daisy called erigeron under all the railings – thousands of little plants that’s just a mass of little pink and white flowers. And anytime you go by it’s just alive with bees.’
A spokeswoman for the Department of Rural and Community Development said that it ‘supports the implementation of pollinator-friendly actions in towns and villages’.
She added: ‘We encourage TidyTowns groups to take simple measures, such as leaving wildflowers to grow alongside roadsides and field margins, reducing the use of pesticides and using more pollinator-friendly planting in parks and gardens.’
Community Development Minister Heather Humphreys launched the Save The Bees campaign earlier this year in partnership with Tidy Towns and the All Ireland Pollinator Plan.
The scheme encourages rewilding projects and leaving hedges uncut – as promoted by signs of cartoon bees along many roadsides.
The department spokeswoman added: ‘Irish bees, crucial in the pollination of our plants, trees and vegetables, are in decline… because we’ve drastically reduced the areas where they can nest and the amount of food our countryside provides for them.’
The redrafted Tidy Towns handbook is also no longer printed and is now only available online – in another nod to its focus on sustainability targets.
The competition, running since 1958, awards a winner in four categories: village, small town, large town and large urban centre, as well as an overall prize for one of the winners.
The full list of judging categories is: Community – Your Planning & Involvement; Streetscape & Public Places; Green Spaces & Landscaping; Nature & Biodiversity in your Locality; Sustainability – Doing more with less; Tidiness & Litter Control; Residential Streets & Housing Areas; and Approach Roads, Streets & Lanes.
The current Tidy Towns champion is Ennis in Co. Clare, which has won the prize for large urban centre in nine of the 15 years since the category was introduced.
Glenties in Co. Donegal has the most overall wins with five, its last coming in 1995.