A clear policy on what we want our countryside to look like is needed according to some local community groups.
Illegal dumping and littering remains ones of the key challenges according to Tidy Towns groups while cutting back hedges is another concern especially in rural counties like Leitrim.
But there is an impact to keeping the countryside manicured and one group in Sligo is keeping things looking wild in the interests of nature.
Full report:
The Chairperson of the Tidy Towns Committee in Bundoran says more financial support and incentives are needed to keep the countryside clean.
Mick McMahon says there are ongoing problems not just with litter but a lack of resources to cut back growth and keep grass and roundabouts in the region tidy.
Mr. McMahon says the countryside looks untidy and it is having an impact on tourism.
He also says that Councils don’t have the resources to enforce proceedings against litter and dumping offenders.
He says local Councils and Tidy Towns Committees are doing all they can but there needs to be an incentive nationally for this to become a priority:
The hedgecutting issue remains a concern and again is a cost to Councils when landowners don’t fulfill their obligations.
Fianna Fail Councillor in south Sligo Keith Henry has a motion down at next week’s meeting of the County Council calling for a community hedge fund to be introduced.
It would be a grant of €50 per kilometre for farmers or local residents who arrange for hedges to be cut.
Kevin Comiskey of the IFA in Leitrim agrees with calls for such a grant.
In fact in his area a new sign erected for safety reasons near Leckaun National School in Leitrim could not be seen until locals took action to cut back trees and hedges on the road there.
Mr. Comiskey says it’s an ongoing problem for years:
But wildlife loves exactly that: the wild. And by cutting back hedges and manicuring the countryside too much nature loses out.
In Collooney in county Sligo, motorists may have noticed a wild and rather weedy area at the village exit from the bypass.
Daniel Gallagher of the local Tidy Towns group there says he agrees with calls for more national funding to keep the countryside looking well.
But he says there are now schemes to promote keeping areas wild and in their natural state in the interests of nature:
It all begs the question what do we want our countryside to look like both from a natural and developed point of view in future years.
