Nearly 400 people have signed a petition calling on Harrogate Borough Council to remove plastic grass from planters in the town centre.
Sarah Gibbs, an environmental campaigner, set up the petition yesterday. It had 365 signatures at the time of publication.
The petition demands the council “prioritise biodiversity and remove the plastic grass”.
It also “requests that local businesses, schools and residents be invited for a community scheme to manage the planters”. It adds:
“Artificial grass holds no biodiversity net gains. Burrowing insects, such as solitary bees can’t get past the membrane, and worms beneath the soil are compromised and unreachable by consumers within each habitat community.
“This is likely to have a negative impact on local bird populations.
“We need more habitats, not more plastic.”
Read more:
- Harrogate council apologises for fake grass saga
- Extinction Rebellion replaces fake grass with flowers in Harrogate
The plastic grass has been widely condemned on aesthetic and environmental grounds.
In a statement today, the council said the planters that have been installed on top of the fame grass were temporary measures while it looked at a permanent solution.
It did not comment on the petition by the time of publication.
Last week it released a statement apologising for the lack of communication with residents.
It said:
“We haven’t explained this well and we are sorry about that. We concentrated too much on getting the trial in place and not enough time explaining the totality of what we were doing.”
Extinction Rebellion Harrogate removed the fake grass from one of the raised beds on Cambridge Street and replaced it with plants, which still remain.
The environmental group later handed the fake grass back to the council, which spent £800 on the scheme.
