Urban Jungle

For those who look on gardening as a chore to be avoided at all costs the rewilding movement is a gift. Now, instead of apologising to barbecue guests for the rampant buddleia blotting out the light, the host can plead their dedication to biodiversity. Weeds and general untidiness can be justified as the price for encouraging wildlife. Horticultural fecklessness has become a virtue.
Lambeth council is using this convenient alibi to explain why its pavements are sprouting all ­manner of tatty flora, bring a general air of dis­hevelment to the thoroughfares of south London. Many council tax payers are less than convinced.
Lambeth’s transformation into a branch of the Ho Chi Minh trail began three years ago when it banned use of the weedkiller glyphosate, alleging possible harmful effects on humans. But instead of finding a more friendly substance the Labour local authority championed the move as a chance for weeds to flower and a contribution to local ­biodiversity. The result has been predictable, with plants pushing up through pavements, some to a height of 4ft, encouraging what is to opponents of the policy an air of dereliction. The belated ­recruitment of an additional ten “weed-control ­operatives” has failed to stem the Triffid-like tide.
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In time-honoured bureaucratic argot, the council’s scrutiny committee admits that ­“chemical-free weed management has presented challenges”. Apparently, weeds grow quickly. While social media posts appear to be generally negative, one resident defended weeds as simply “plants in the wrong place”. Which is, surely, the point.
Rewilding can be a wonderful thing, encouraging the return of long-departed species. But the ­species homo urbanus also requires a suitable ­habitat, one that does not involve tripping over yarrow, pigweed or prickly lettuce on the way home from the pub.