Soon to be felled and shredded? Is this the last summer for the shrubs and hedges of Pier Gardens?

An uncertain future beckons for many of the Pier Gardens  shrubs and the songbirds that live in them 

HUNDREDS  of shrubs in Pier Gardens are at risk of being removed to make way for proposed revamp of the site.

Much of the area has been earmarked for clearance to make way for playground equipment and other ‘hard man-made’ features.

North East Lincolnshire Council is pledged to retaining all but one of the existing trees..

However, as far as is known, it has made no commitment to safeguarding the diverse range of shrubs -  many of them all-year habitat for songbirds such as robins, wrens, dunnocks and blackbirds.

The risk is that many  will be removed during what the council likes to describe as ‘vegetation clearance’ or ‘enabling works’, with only a  minority to be replaced - and these by less nature-friendly plants such as ornamental grasses and bedding flowers.

Sadly, many of the pleasing expanses of lawn are also at risk of being lost.

The Grimsby News says:  From the outset, we have always been cautious about the proposed revamp of Pier Gardens. We think the council’s Victorian predecessors were mostly right in what they created. By contrast, NELC’s proposed zoning and hard surfacing, complemented by a modicum of ornamental replanting, will result in a  nature-destructive hotchpotch of mediocrity. The authority has already paid a king’s ransom to consultants with grandiose ideas but no real feel for the heritage of the town (nor the value of its wildlife). Rather than wasting any more money on this project, the authority might be better advised to scrap it forthwith.