The first phase of York Walls in Bloom is underway, transforming Station Rise into a beautiful wildflower meadow.
The project aims to manage green spaces within the city in a more environmentally friendly and sustainable way.
This week saw council workers and volunteers strip away the turf on the embankment and sow wildflower seeds, which should bloom for Spring 2025.
Residents and visitors will then be able to see a variety of pollinators thrive and the unique green space evolved into a biodiverse landscape.
The York Walls in Bloom project, inspired by the Tower of London’s Moat in Bloom, was introduced by the City of York Council and is built on both environmental and aesthetic purposes.
Council Environment Executive Jenny Kent told YorkMix, “We hope that not only will it be a sea of colour, it will also have bees, butterflies, moths hover flies, and it reassures that tourists and visitors that where we are, where we can, we’re doing something in our city, in an urban space for nature and people to thrive.”
The project aims to offer a mix of stunning visuals, increased sustainability and improved habitat with the wildflower display.
The current season bedding displays will be familiar to many residents, but it comes with downfalls.
The amount of water and carbon used on the growing, transporting, planting, weeding, and removing bedding plants means its resource intensive; making the practice increasingly unsustainable for the city.
As wildflower patches need little maintenance and less grass cutting, the green spaces will be carefully managed into a sustainable natural floral meadow with healthier soil .
Less planting and cutting the grass verges will also assist efforts to try and close a budget gap for the Council, worth an estimated £30 million over the next three years.
Despite the positives, the changes on the Station Rise embankment have sparked controversy from critics who claim the Council has allowed areas to fall into neglect.
A petition calling for York’s parks and the Bar Walls to be restored to their former condition has been signed by over 2,500 people.
However, Council Monuments Leader Liam Dennis ensured the area would still be carefully managed.
Mr Dennis said: “This is the culmination of six months of really careful planning.
“We’ve picked a flower mix with strong colours that’s suitable for this location, we’ve also picked species which can outcompete the grass.
“The choices we’ve gone for will create months of contrast, this won’t just be for two weeks we’ve worked really hard on the colours.
“What we’re doing now is more sustainable, it doesn’t need watering as often and the flowers won’t need removing at a later date.
“We want it to look as fantastic as it has done in the past but in a way that’s fit for the future.”
Cllr Jenny Kent also hopes residents will wait until the project is complete to judge the changes, telling YorkMix: “We value everyone’s concern about their city, because it shows they care. I think it’s coming from a misunderstanding in that this is a finished product.
“It’s been left this year, so it doesn’t look great this year, but that’s because it was in lieu of the work we’re doing.
“I really hope that when they see what the plan was and the result’s next year, that they will be convinced it’s going to be beautiful. Because it is going to be beautiful.”
For more information on the project, check out the York Walls in Bloom webpage.
Additional reporting: Joe Gerrard, Local Democracy Reporter.